Five injured as gas explosion wrecks Russian apartment block

Five people were injured today when a gas explosion ripped through a five-storey apartment building in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russian media cited the emergencies ministry saying. A child is reported to have been among those injured in the household gas blast, which occurred at 0515 GMT, causing two floors of the building to collapse, the ministry told the Ekho Moskvy radio.Emergency rescue teams were working at the site of the explosion, and the emergencies ministry did not exclude the possibility that the number of reported casualties would rise, Interfax reports.