A gas explosion has completely destroyed five apartments, located vertically from the first floor to the fifth floor, in a section of a residential building in Russia's city of Yaroslavl, emergency officials and media reports said on Tuesday.
A gas explosion has completely destroyed five apartments, located vertically from the first floor to the fifth floor, in a section of a residential building in Russia's city of Yaroslavl, emergency officials and media reports said on Tuesday.
According to The Moscow Times, the explosion, which caused an entire section of a five-story residential building to crumble, was registered at 4:20 a.m. — a time when most of the residents were at home and sleeping — according a statement by the Yaroslavl regional branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry.
“Gas exploded in a five story residential building, the structure caved in from the first to the fifth floor,” an emergencies ministry representative reported.
TASS informs the explosion was caused by a gas leak in one of the apartments, a source in the regional law enforcement bodies said. "According to preliminary data, the explosion occurred in an apartment on the 4th floor due to a gas leak or malfunction of gas equipment," the source said.
Rescue workers have taken seven bodies from the rubble. Kristina Guzovskaya of the Investigation Committee for the Yaroslavl region, has told Interfax that among the victims there are four women, one man and two children, possibly an 11- and 6-year-old. The ministry confirmed that people remained under rubble, adding that at least ten flats have collapsed.
