Building gas blast kills 21

AN apparent natural gas explosion destroyed part of a nine-storey apartment building in the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk early yesterday as residents slept, killing at least 21 people. About 20 people remained missing hours after the blast.

Police were searching for two men believed to be involved in the explosion, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Citing a police source, ITAR-Tass said the men, thought to be homeless, were carrying metal pipes and instruments, and may have removed brass fittings from gas valves to sell them.

Authorities refused to rule out terrorism, with heightened tension in Russia after a series of terrorist attacks blamed on Chechen rebels. In autumn 1999, explosions blamed on rebels ripped through apartment buildings in Moscow and two other cities, killing some 300 people.

But a gas leak was seen as the most likely cause, emergency workers said, after firefighters reported a strong smell of gas and gas employees said leaks had been reported in other buildings overnight in Arkhangelsk, about 600 miles north of Moscow. No explosive devices were found, Natalya Ozhigina, a spokeswoman for the regional Federal Security Service agency, told ITAR-Tass.

Yesterday’s blast hit at 3.25am local time, when most of the 80 residents registered in the building in Arkhangelsk would have been in bed, said Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Marina Ryklina.

“We were awakened by a terrible noise,” Igor, 40, who lives in the adjoining section of the apartment building.

Yuri Vorobyov, a deputy minister at the Emergency Situations Ministry, said 21 bodies were recovered by mid-afternoon. The explosion destroyed a whole section of the building, leaving huge chunks of debris. Russian TV showed footage of rescue crews clambering over the wreckage, using power saws to cut through piles of building materials as cranes lifted off beams. The Emergency Situations Ministry dispatched more rescue workers and equipment.