A manhunt is under way in southern France after a parcel bomb exploded at a residential building in neighbouring Monaco, severely injuring a wealthy Ukrainian businessman and two others.
Vadym Yermolaiev and two others are believed to have been injured in the attack, according to French media reports. The victims’ identities have not been officially announced by authorities.
Two of the victims are in a critical condition in hospital in Nice, Monaco’s public prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said, adding that the woman was most seriously hurt.
The blast occurred shortly before 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) at an apartment building on Rue Révérend Père Louis Frolla, near the border with France.
Monaco’s government said the explosion was caused by a parcel bomb, while the Minister of State of Monaco Christophe Mirmand told AFP news agency the explosive device appeared to contain bolts and pellets.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Thibault said four others were treated by emergency services – one for shock and three for cuts from debris from nearby shop windows as a result of the blast.
He said authorities were searching for a single suspect and that the incident was being investigated as attempted murder, not as a terrorist attack.
On Tuesday morning, Mirmand told French broadcaster BFM TV the suspect “appears to have left for France”.
The Monaco government has said a suspect was seen on a video surveillance system fleeing towards the French commune of Beausoleil on foot after the explosion, where a major police effort to find them is now taking place.
Video surveillance images of the moments before the attack showed a man dropping a backpack in the lobby of a building shortly before the explosion, French newspaper Le Figaro reported.
