Apartment building gas explosion leaves 39 buried

11:38 - 16 February 2016

Apartment building gas explosion leaves 39 buried in Russia

It said the explosion did not trigger any big fire, but authorities cautioned that they could not rule out the possibility of further collapse of the building.

Russian authorities said an apartment building in the city of Yaroslavl partially collapsed early Tuesday after a natural gas explosion, leaving dozens buried in debris.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, said in a statement in Moscow that preliminary information showed that about 10 flats on the first to fifth floors of a single unit of the residential structure fell apart in the blast.

It said more than 39 people were estimated to be buried in the rubble.

The statement added that firefighters had rushed to the site for search and rescue operations after being alerted at 04:20 am. Moscow time (0120 GMT).