"An 11-month-old baby was found alive under the debris," the statement said. The baby spent more than 24 hours under the house's debris.
According to Boris Dubrovsky, governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, the rescuers had heard the baby crying and acted quickly to save him. As he specified, the baby was pulled through the rubble as he was bundled up and lying in his bed.
As the press service of the Russian Healthcare Ministry stated, the baby was in a critical condition due to freeze burns and a closed craniocerebral injury.
"The 11-month old boy, who was found while clearing the debris in Magnitogorsk, was sent to the third children's city hospital. Doctors are examining [the baby] in an intensive care unit. Doctors are assessing his condition as critical: he has serious freeze burns and a closed craniocerebral injury," the statement noted.
Shortly after that, the ministry reported that the rescued child would be taken to Moscow due to her condition.
"At the direction of Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova, a special plane of the Federal Biomedical Agency is flying from Moscow to Magnitogorsk, with Russia's best pediatric anesthesiologists and intensive care specialists, trauma surgeons on board. The child will be evacuated to Moscow, to a leading centre of pediatric surgery and traumatology," the ministry said in a statement.
Death Toll
Later in the day, the Russian Emergencies Ministry told Sputnik that another body had been recovered from the debris of a residential building that collapsed in the Russian city of Magnitogorsk, bringing the death toll to nine.
"Yes, we confirm that the body of the ninth victim has been recovered… Presumably, it is a woman," the ministry said.
Prior to that, the ministry reported about the body of the eighth victim recovered under the debris, while clearing away the rubble. "This is an adult," the ministry said.
READ MORE: Rescuers Recover 2 Bodies From Collapsed Building in Magnitogorsk
"As for 7:00 a.m. [Moscow time, 04:00 GMT], since the start of the search and rescue operation 12 people were recovered from the debris, with seven of them having died (no children) and five rescued (including a child)," the press service said.
January 2 was declared a day of mourning in the Chelyabinsk Region for those killed in a collapse of a block of a residential building in Magnitogorsk, according to the order was published in the official Telegram channel of the region’s governor Boris Dubrovsky.
"To declare January 2, 2019, a day of mourning in the Chelyabinsk Region," the order says.
According to the document, the state flags of Russia and of the Chelyabinsk Region will be flown half-mast throughout the region on Wednesday.
The governor recommends that institutions, organisations and broadcasting companies cancel entertainment events and programs on the day of mourning.
Rescue Works
Speaking about the rescue works on the site, a spokesperson for the Russian Emergencies Ministry told Sputnik that the wall of the collapsed residential building would be dismantled because of the threat of further collapse.
He pointed out that there was a real threat of further collapse of the building.
"The wall of the seventh block is becoming less stable and it is impossible to continue the [search and rescue] work under such circumstances," the Emergencies Ministry said in a statement citing Minister Yevgeny Zinichev.
The ministry noted that the search and rescue operation would continue after elimination of the collapse threat.
The collapse was reasoned by a natural gas blast on Monday that hit one of the blocks of a 10-storey building in Magnitogorsk, damaging 48 apartments. The fate of dozens of people remains unknown.
