The Borneo Post (Sabah)

More bodies pulled from rubble of gas blast

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MOSCOW: Rescuers hunted for survivors yesterday 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 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 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 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.

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.

Yesterday 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. — AFP

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 ??  ?? Russian Emergencie­s Ministry members work at the site of the partially collapsed apartment block. — Reuters photo
Russian Emergencie­s Ministry members work at the site of the partially collapsed apartment block. — Reuters photo
 ??  ?? Emergency officers transporti­ng a survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residentia­l building in Russia’s Urals city of Magnitogor­sk. — AFP photo
Emergency officers transporti­ng a survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residentia­l building in Russia’s Urals city of Magnitogor­sk. — AFP photo
 ??  ?? A still image taken from a video footage shows a rescuer carrying a child found alive in the rubble of a Russian apartment block that partially collapsed after a suspected gas blast. — Reuters photo
A still image taken from a video footage shows a rescuer carrying a child found alive in the rubble of a Russian apartment block that partially collapsed after a suspected gas blast. — Reuters photo

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