Many dead, missing in Russia NYE gas blast
Print Edition
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived yesterday in the city of Magnitogorsk in Urals to see for himself the aftereffects of a gas explosion that tore through a residential building, killing at least four people, leaving several dozen missing and hundreds without a home in freezing temperatures on New Year鈥檚 Eve.
Putin was expected to meet victims and regional authorities in the industrial city, Russian news agencies reported.
A large section of the building collapsed after a gas explosion around 6am local time at the high-rise in the city, nearly 1,700 kilometers east of Moscow.
Four people were confirmed dead and another four, including two children, were hospitalized, officials said.
Sixteen people including seven children have been evacuated.
The whereabouts of another 28 people have been established but the fate of nearly 70 remains unclear.
National television said some 50 people could be trapped under the rubble, broadcasting footage of rescue workers combing through mangled heaps of concrete and metal in temperatures of minus 18 degrees Celsius.
Temperatures in Magnitogorsk were expected to plunge to minus 23 degrees on New Year鈥檚 night, the biggest holiday of the year in Russia.
Officials warned that two more sections of the Soviet-era high-rise on Karl Marx Street were in danger of collapsing.
Local resident Anna Koroleva told Echo of Moscow radio that the explosion shattered windows of nearby buildings.
The Kremlin said the president had been 鈥渋mmediately notified.鈥
Located in the mineral-rich southern Ural region, Magnitogorsk, with a population of more than 400,000 people, is home to one of the country鈥檚 largest steel producers.
The high-rise was built in 1973 and was home to around 1,100 people. Residents were evacuated to a nearby school.
Volunteers offered money, clothing and essentials to the victims, and some said they were ready to provide temporary shelter to those in need.
Regional governor Boris Dubrovsky said authorities planned to buy apartments for people who had lost their homes.
Staff from the local Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works took part in the rescue operation.
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