A woman was killed and her son remains missing after an explosion tore through an apartment building in the capital of annexed Crimea on Monday night, Russian-installed authorities said.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of the port city of Sevastopol, said Tuesday that law enforcement authorities were still working to determine the cause of the blast but did not believe a gas leak was to blame.
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top investigative body, launched a criminal probe into the explosion, treating it as a case of negligence resulting in death.
Investigators said the woman who owns the apartment building was killed, while her son was said to be missing.
Twelve people, including three children, were hospitalized.
Razvozhayev said the explosion wave “seriously damaged” a nearby apartment building.
He said the affected residents were evacuated and will be placed in a temporary shelter at a local school.
There was no immediate sign of the explosion being the result of Ukrainian attacks, which occur regularly in annexed Crimea.
Russia’s Defense Ministry reported intercepting 55 Ukrainian drones across seven Russian regions, as well as annexed Crimea and the nearby Black Sea.
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