MOSCOW, November 11 (RIA Novosti) – At least five people were killed and another six injured by a gas explosion that rocked an apartment building outside Moscow on Monday morning, a police spokesman said.
The blast in a nine-story residential building in a village in the Sergiev Posad district of the Moscow Region was apparently caused by a gas leak. It completely destroyed eight apartments on the building’s top two floors and damaged some on the seventh floor.
The apartments demolished by the blast were home to a total of 27 people, including four children, the Emergencies Ministry said.
Residents are to be relocated to a nearby sanatorium while local officials evaluate the damage, the regional governor’s office said. A total of 350 people were inside the building when the explosion occurred at 9:30 a.m. local time, regional officials said.
A search operation for people who could be trapped is ongoing, the Emergencies Ministry said. Earlier reports said up to five people could be under the rubble.
