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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/31/deaths-tower-block-collapses-russia-magnitogorsk-urals-suspected-gas-blast
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| Four dead and 70 missing as Russian tower block collapses | |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| Four people have been killed and nearly 70 are unaccounted for after a gas explosion tore through a residential building in Russia, leaving hundreds without a home in freezing temperatures on New Year’s Eve. | |
| A large section of the high-rise building in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk collapsed after the explosion at around 6am on Monday local time. Magnitogorsk is around 1,000 miles east of Moscow in the Ural mountains. | |
| Four people were confirmed dead and another four, including two children, were taken to hospital, officials said, citing the latest information. | |
| Sixteen people, including seven children, had been evacuated. | |
| The whereabouts of 28 people has been established but the fate of nearly 70 others was unclear. National television said around 50 people could be trapped under the rubble. | |
| National television broadcast footage of rescue workers combing through mangled heaps of concrete and metal in temperatures of -18C. | |
| Temperatures in Magnitogorsk were expected to plunge to -23C on the night of New Year’s Eve, the biggest holiday of the year in Russia. | |
| Officials warned that two more sections of the Soviet-era high-rise on Karl Marx Street were in danger of collapsing. | |
| Local resident Anna Koroleva told Echo of Moscow radio that the explosion shattered the windows of nearby buildings. | |
| The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, rushed to the city and television showed him grim-faced and in a black winter jacket as he met with local officials. He was also shown putting on a white coat and visiting a victim in hospital. | |
| Located in the mineral-rich southern Ural region, Magnitogorsk, with a population of more than 400,000 people, is home to one of the country’s largest steel producers. | |
| The high-rise was built in 1973 and was home to around 1,100 people. Residents were evacuated to a nearby school. | |
| Volunteers offered money, clothing and essentials to the victims, and some said they were ready to provide temporary shelter to those in need. | |
| The regional governor, Boris Dubrovsky, said authorities planned to buy apartments for people who had lost their homes. | |
| Staff from the local MMK iron and steel works took part in the rescue operation. | |
| The billionaire Viktor Rashnikov, who controls the plant, called on city residents to help the victims. | |
| “This is our common tragedy and pain,” he said in a statement, adding that MMK would provide financial assistance to those in need. | |
| Investigators opened a criminal inquiry into the accident, with the FSB security service confirming the blast had been the result of a gas explosion. | |
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