MOSCOW, November 11 (RIA Novosti) – The death toll in Monday’s gas explosion that rocked an apartment building outside Moscow has risen to six people, regional authorities said.
“According to an updated report, rescue workers have just recovered the body of a sixth victim from within the debris at the site of the explosion,” the authorities said in a statement.
The statement also said seven people were hospitalized with various injuries after the accident.
Initial police reports from the site of the explosion said that at least five people were killed and another six injured in the blast. Police said that up to five people could still be under the rubble.
The blast, in a nine-story residential building in a village in the Sergiev Posad district of the Moscow Region, was apparently caused by a gas leak. The explosion completely destroyed four apartments on the building’s top two floors and damaged some on the seventh floor.
The apartments demolished by the blast were home to a total of 27 people, including four children, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.
Some 280 rescue workers and 77 emergency vehicles are involved in the rescue operation at the site, the ministry said.
