Turkey ? An explosion leveled a three-story dormitory at a school in central Turkey Friday morning, killing at least 17 female students and wounding dozens, authorities said.

Officials said a gas canister apparently exploded at the Bogazici School in Konya Province at approximately 5 a.m., while many of the girls were asleep.

There were no reports suggesting the explosion was an act of terrorism.

Villagers sifted through rubble with their bare hands looking for girls trapped in the rubble, according to television news footage from the school. Wounded girls were rushed to hospitals in civilian and emergency vehicles. Local officials told television reporters that they could hear voices of girls trapped in the ruins.

Interior Minister Besir Atalay told reporters Friday afternoon that rescue efforts were continuing.

The building housed roughly 40 girls between the ages of eight and 16 who were attending summer Koran courses, according to Turkish news agency Anatolia. At least 27 girls were injured in the explosion.