The death toll in a fire in a southeast Moscow apartment block, most likely caused by a gas cylinder leak, has risen to three.

The fire started after an explosion hit a five-story residential building on Yunykh Lenintsev Street early on Saturday.

Pyotr Biryukov, a deputy mayor of the Russian capital, said three people died in the fire and 14, including four children, were affected, mainly poisoned with carbon monoxide.

Biryukov said dwellers evacuated from the affected part of the building will be accommodated in the Kuzminki hotel.

According to preliminary data, the explosion occurred in a food store in the building's basement due to a leak from a gas cylinder, police said. "No criminal versions are considered yet," a spokesman said.

"The fire area totaled about 100 square meters. An area of 50 sq. m between the basement and the first floor collapsed," Yevgeny Bobylyov, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry's Moscow division, told RIA Novosti.

Bobylyov earlier said 26 firefighting crews were involved in the efforts to extinguish the fire, which has been put out by now.

Traffic on the Yunykh Lenintsev Street was reportedly blocked by authorities, but they said it will be resumed by morning.

An investigation is underway.

MOSCOW, November 21 (RIA Novosti)