MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti) - According to the latest information, one person was killed and 10 hospitalized after a Friday blast in a furniture store in the town of Gus Khrustalny in European Russian, the Emergency Situations Ministry said Saturday.
The explosion caused a fire to spread in the residential block in which the store was located.
Some 150 residents were evacuated, a spokesman for the ministry said.
The spokesman said twelve firefighting teams were involved in extinguishing the blaze, but said extremely low temperatures were hampering their work.
The Prosecutor's Office of the Vladimir Region said it had launched a criminal investigation into the explosion and was examining all possible causes of the incident.
A gas stove had been used to heat the building and three containers of propane had been kept there, the Prosecutor's Office said.
