23 killed in Russian barracks collapse
Injured flown to Moscow from Omsk in Siberia
MOSCOW // Twenty-three Russian soldiers were crushed to death after their barracks collapsed in Siberia, Russia’s defence ministry said yesterday.
All four floors collapsed in one section of a building in the Siberian city of Omsk on Sunday evening, as 42 Russian paratroopers were resting.
“All 42 soldiers who were under the rubble have been found. Twenty- three of them are dead,” said defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the accident in Omsk, located about 2,200 kilometres east of Moscow, a Kremlin spokesman said.
In footage shown on Russian television, soldiers formed a chain to pass down bricks and other debris to clear the rubble.
“Half of the heap has been cleared now,” said Nikolai Ignatov, the acting commander of Russian paratroopers. Teams of rescue workers, search dogs and a plane with medical equipment from Moscow had been dispatched to the scene, along with military prosecutors. Some of the injured were flown to Moscow for treatment.
A regional military investigator said an inquiry had been launched into possible negligence.
Most of the victims were male and between the ages of 18 and 24.
About 50 relatives of the injured or dead soldiers have already arrived in Omsk, the regional governor said.
According to the defence ministry, the 242nd training centre, whose barracks collapsed, trains junior officers and armoured infantry-vehicle drivers, among others.