A gas explosion collapsed a section of a residential building — killing seven people and hospitalizing nine — in the central Russian city of Yaroslavl, emergency officials and media reports said Tuesday.
The explosion, which caused an entire section of a five-story residential building to crumble, was registered at 4:20 a.m. — a time when most of the residents were at home and sleeping — according a statement by the Yaroslavl regional branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry.
The collapsed section comprised of 10 apartments, a ministry spokesperson said, the TASS news agency reported. According to recent reports, seven people have been killed, including two children, and nine people have been hospitalized.
Emergency workers retrieved the body of at least one man who was killed in the blast, and rescued four survivors in the first hours following the blast, TASS reported.
Three of the survivors sustained “light injuries,” an Emergency Situations Ministry spokesperson was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
Another survivor — a woman who suffered broken bones, according to a preliminary diagnosis — was rescued after she spoke by phone from under the rubble with emergency workers, TASS reported.
In Yaroslavl, Feb. 17-18 have been declared days of mourning for the victims of the gas explosion, regional Governor Sergei Yastrebov said, TASS reported.
