SAO PAULO, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least three people were killed and 14 others injured in an explosion that occurred Sunday in an apartment building in northeast Brazil, the local Fire Brigade reported Monday.

       The explosion occurred in a 44-apartment building in the city of Aracaju, capital of the state of Sergipe, due to a gas leak from a cylinder inside a kitchen, the report said.

       "We have rescued 14 people alive. The injured were taken to hospitals in the city of Aracaju," Allan Santos, captain of the Sergipe Fire Brigade, told the GloboNews channel.

       Santos said that in addition to the three people killed by the explosion, there were several collapses in the apartment building that left others trapped.

       "The teams will remain in place until it is safe, so that we can get back to work on the search for possible missing persons," he said, after three people were reported missing by relatives on Monday.