[WATCH] 14 injured in pizzeria explosion in Belgium

Afschuwelijk. De wok hier tien huizen verder is volledig ingestort. Waanzin. Be safe, X #paardenmarkt pic.twitter.com/GX9qAVW9PZ

— noa (@noa_tuyaerts) January 15, 2018

An explosion injured 14 people and destroyed three residential buildings in the Belgian city of Antwerp.

A pizzeria, located near Antwerp’s busy Paardenmarkt square, collapsed on Monday night after a massive explosion ripped through it around 10pm local  time, according to police.

Antwerp police said that five people had been seriously injured and another was in a critical state after the explosion in the part of the city where many students live.

Antwerp officials quickly tweeted that the explosion was "not terror" related, but noted that another three nearby buildings were badly damaged in the blast.

A cause for the explosion was not immediately known.

Rescue workers were still searching the rubble for further victims, the fire brigade said. A man, a woman and a child were freed after about two hours under the debris. Police said two people were missing.

Some people were still trapped under the rubble late Monday, officials said, calling the situation "extremely dangerous." Firefighters and other emergency responders were working late, trying to free the trapped victims.

Mayor Bart De Wever praised the rescue workers and called the explosion "terrible."

"My thoughts are with the victims and their families," De Wever tweeted in Dutch.

Belgium has been on high alert since a wave of deadly terror attacks swept across Europe in 2016.