Nizhny Tagil apartment building explosion: Babies pulled out from under rubble

The number of victims of the gas explosion in Nizhny Tagil has increased to nine. One person was killed. 

Household gas exploded at about 10:30 a. m. Moscow time. The blast wave caused two entranceways of the apartment block to collapse at once. Rescuers quickly arrived at the scene. Residents of neighboring buildings took to the streets to help rescuers.

The building was last inspected on July 19, when specialists said that the gas pipeline in the building was in order.

At 10:42 a. m., two infants were pulled out from under the rubble. One of the babies is only three months old.

There were three partial collapses of the building. The first one occurred seven minutes after the Emergencies Ministry pulled the newborns out from under the slabs.

The blast wave knocked out the windows in the kindergarten, which is located 50 meters from the collapsed building. Rescuers and medics provided first aid to teachers and children.

At 11:00 Moscow time, rescuers pulled out two babies. A few minutes later, they retrieved another person — a pensioner who lived in an apartment in one of the two entranceways that collapsed.

It became known that the explosion occurred in an apartment on the first floor, which is located near the wall between the first and second entranceways. It is believed that the explosion occurred in the basement of the building.

A threat of a fourth partial collapse was reported at about midday. According to eyewitnesses, concrete slabs were hanging from the upper floors.

At 12:30 Moscow time, rescuers found two schoolgirls under the rubble. They wee said to be 14-year-old friends, students at a local school.