Apartment building partially collapses in Russia after explosion

Rescuers continue the operation to retrieve survivors and dead bodies from under the rubble of the apartment building, which partially collapsed in Russia's Astrakhan yesterday. Two more bodies have been recovered this morning, which made the death toll climb to 5. The fate of five other tenants of the apartment block remains unknown.

The two bodies were recovered at 8:15 and 8:34. The rescuers have saved 26 people so far. Seven of them have been hospitalized, five others received medical help on the scene.

Konstantin Markelov, the chairman of the government of the Astrakhan region, said that the people, who lost their homes as a result of the explosion, would receive the compensation of 1 million rubles from the budget of the Astrakhan region. The people will also receive new apartments.

"All the people, who lost their apartments will have new homes. They will be accommodated in the newly built apartment buildings on Granovsky Street," Markelov said.

On February 27, at about 1:00 p.m. a gas explosion, which occurred in the apartment block, demolished one of six entrance halls in the nine-storeyed block of flats. He explosion supposedly occurred in the shop on the first storey of the building.

Officials representing local law-enforcement agencies said that they would be investigating all versions of the tragedy: a gas explosion, a terrorist act and an attempt to commit suicide by one of the tenants of the building, Arguments and Facts said. 

Apartment building partially collapses in Russia after explosion

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