St Petersburg building collapses

A five-storey residential building undergoing major repairs collapsed today in St Petersburg, sending debris into the street. No one was hurt.

The top three floors of the 19th-century building on the city’s Vasilyevsky Island collapsed.

The St Petersburg emergency department said some of the debris flew into the street, hitting two cars. No casualties were reported, it said.

No one had lived in the building for six years, and construction workers were evacuated before it collapsed, the department said.

Deputy Governor Anna Markova said it was unclear whether the collapse was caused by the construction work or simply the age and condition of the building.

Emergency workers began tearing down the remnants of the building. Residents of the two adjacent buildings were evacuated, and traffic was closed on the street where the building is located.

St Petersburg is full of elegant but decaying buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries. The city is undergoing major reconstruction in time for its 300th anniversary next June, but the repairs are mostly concentrated on tourist areas and in many cases involve only facades.

Meanwhile, a similar incident occurred today in the western Siberian city of Tomsk. One person was caught under rubble when a factory ceiling caved in, the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies said. The factory was mostly empty at the time, ITAR-Tass said.