Investigators were studying Tuesday whether a gas leak or possibly a malfunction at a terrorist bomb workshop caused an explosion that brought down the upper walls in an apartment building in the Moscow region, killing at least one person and leaving dozens homeless.
The blast took place late Monday in the town of Bronnitsy, 50 kilometers southeast of Moscow. The explosion blasted away slabs of concrete on the top two floors of the five-story building and caused a fire that raged for hours.
One resident was confirmed dead and three ruled missing as of late Tuesday, when rescuers were still working their way through the rubble, Interfax said. Three more remained hospitalized, and 54 were evacuated to a nearby school.
A gas leak remained the main version of the incident, but Moscow region Governor Boris Gromov said Tuesday that investigators were not ruling out that a bomb workshop had been located in one of the apartments. He gave no details. A check was ongoing.
