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RUSSIA-ACCIDENT-UPDATE
Rescuers pull more bodies from rubble of Russian gas explosion
MOSCOW, Jan 2, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Rescuers hunted for survivors Wednesday in
the rubble of a Russian apartment building hit by a New Year’s Eve gas
explosion, but found only bodies as the number of confirmed dead rose to 18.
Nearly two dozen people were still missing following the explosion, which
destroyed 35 apartments in the high-rise in the city of Magnitogorsk in the
Ural mountains.
Braving temperatures that fell as low as minus 27 degrees Celsius (minus
16 degrees Fahrenheit), rescue workers were combing through mangled concrete
and metal.
Their efforts were given a boost on Tuesday when a 10-month-old baby boy
was found alive and reunited with his mother. But hope was starting to fade
of finding many more survivors.
The emergency situations ministry said in a statement that as of 12:15
Moscow time (0915 GMT) the bodies of 18 people, including two children, had
been recovered from the partly collapsed building.
Six people, including two children, had been rescued and 23 people were
still missing.
“Work at the scene is continuing,” it said, noting that 800 square metres
of debris — loaded into 50 dump trucks — had been cleared from the site in
the last 24 hours.
The explosion, believed to have been caused by a gas leak, tore through
the nine-storey building in Magnitogorsk, an industrial town nearly 1,700
kilometres (1,050 miles) east of Moscow, in the early hours of Monday.
Witnesses described a “wave of fire” from the explosion and said the blast
was strong enough to shatter windows in nearby buildings.
The Soviet-era apartment block was home to about 1,100 people and the
blast left dozens homeless over the New Year — the biggest holiday of the
year in Russia.
– ‘New Year’s miracle’ –
Tuesday’s recovery of the infant boy offered a rare moment of hope, with
officials describing his rescue as a “New Year’s miracle”.
The boy was found in his cradle after rescuers heard him crying from
within the rubble. He was brought to his mother, who had survived the blast,
and then flown to Moscow for treatment.
Russian television showed footage of the boy lying in a hospital bed
watched by his tearful mother.
Medical officials in Moscow said the boy was in serious but stable
condition after suffering from severe frostbite, a head injury and multiple
fractures.
Residents left homeless by the explosion were being housed in a nearby
school and helped by a team of psychologists.
Wednesday was a day of mourning in the region, with flags lowered and
entertainment events cancelled, in a country where New Year’s Eve
celebrations are an annual highlight.
Mourners laid flowers and lit candles near the site of the building.
“We are all grieving,” a middle-aged man told Rossiya 24 television.
“Nearly everyone in the city knew someone” caught up in the accident, he
said.
Investigators have said there is no reason to suspect foul play in the
blast.
Rumours have swirled on social media of a possible terror link, especially
after a minibus explosion on Tuesday that killed three people.
“No traces of explosives or their components have been found” at the
scene, the federal Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Local authorities have said the minibus explosion was the result of
leaking gas tanks and that there was no link between the two blasts.
Gas explosions are relatively common in Russia, where much of the
infrastructure dates back to the Soviet era and safety requirements are often
ignored.
Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin told Russian television
that gas equipment in the Magnitogorsk building had not been checked for more
than six months prior to the explosion.
Located in the mineral-rich southern Urals region, Magnitogorsk, with a
population of more than 400,000 people, is home to one of the country’s
largest steel producers.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1637 hrs