"Another seven are in hospital with burns. Overall, there were 15 people inside the building," the regional emergencies department said.
The fire in a two-story residential building broke out early on Sunday in an apartment on the second floor after the explosion of a household gas canister. Half of the building collapsed. The fire was put out two hours later, the regional emergencies department said.
Poor fire safety in many of Russia's dilapidated buildings is frequently the cause of fires.
In a similar incident on February 15, thirteen people were killed and another seven injured in a fire that broke out in a wooden three-story residential building in the Astrakhan Region in southern Russia. Investigators said that the building had been recognized as structurally unsafe back in 1997.
