Death toll from building collapse in Russia hits 18
Russian rescue workers have pulled more bodies from under the rubble of a high-rise that recently collapsed due to a gas explosion, bringing the death toll to at least 18, while the fate of 20 others still remains unknown.
A section of a 10-story residential building collapsed in an explosion — believed to have been triggered by a natural gas leak — in downtown Magnitogorsk on New Year’s Eve on Monday.
On Wednesday, two days after the blast, rescue workers found 14 bodies.
Baby boy among those rescued
Five people have also been rescued, said rescue workers, including an infant boy who was taken out of the rubble alive in freezing temperatures. The 11-month-old boy, who was seriously injured, was transferred to hospital in Moscow by an airplane sent by the Health Ministry.
He was diagnosed with a serious freezer burn and a head injury. His mother also survived the incident.
“Hundreds of people were waiting for the appearance of the injured child from under the rubble like a miracle. And the miracle happened... Tears drew in the eyes of the weather-beaten rescuers,” Russian Interfax news agency quoted unidentified officials as saying.
Powerful heaters deployed
Officials also said that rescue work continued to find more survivors but the search was being hampered by concerns that moving rubble could cause additional sections of the building to collapse.
Meanwhile, emergency officials have deployed powerful heaters to raise temperatures under the debris.
“We must work as quickly as we can as temperatures don’t give us any time to linger,” said Deputy Emergency Minister Pavel Baryshev.
The blast destroyed 35 apartments and damaged 10 more in the apartment bloc, which was home to about 1,100.
More than 20 people still remained unaccounted for.
Dozens, however, safely evacuated after the building was partially destroyed.
President Vladimir Putin, who rushed to the scene of the blast on Tuesday, has ordered a special government commission to coordinate the government’s response to the disaster.
In 2017, a nine-story building partially collapsed in Izhevsk, central Russia following a gas explosion, killing 2 people. Back in 2015, a gas explosion also killed five people at an apartment building in the southern city of Volgograd.
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