At least six people, including two girls, the first four months old and the second six years old, died after a household gas explosion in Russia's southern Stavropol Territory.
The blast went off at 2:18 a.m. local time (11:18 p.m. Sunday GMT) in a five-floor apartment block in the town of Zheleznovodsk.
A total of 58 people were safely evacuated from the building, and three are being treated in hospital. Rescue efforts have been curtailed, as rescuers believe there are no more people trapped under the rubble.
A source in the local prosecutor general's office said the explosion was caused by the improper handling of a gas-heating device.
At least seven people were injured in a similar explosion in Russia's Volga area region of Samara. One of those injured is in the serious burns unit. Another six people were rushed to hospital with concussion and acute stress disorder.
"The explosion occurred in a five-storey apartment block in the town of Novokuibyshevsk [in the Samara Region] at 2:25 p.m. local time (10:25 a.m. GMT)," an Emergency Situations Ministry official said.
On January 9, eight people were killed in a natural gas explosion in an apartment building in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan.
