According to the Russian Emergency Service press service, ten people were rescued from under the rubble and two died after gas exploded in a block of flats in the Russian city of Magnitogorsk in the Ural Mountains.

The explosion occurred at around 1:00 a.m. GMT on Monday. Sixteen people have been evacuated from the building. Health authorities told Sputnik that one person had been hospitalized.

The governor of the Chelyabinsk region, Boris Dubrovsky, is on the way to the scene of the tragedy, his press office said. </s> At least four people are dead and dozens missing after a suspected gas explosion ripped through an apartment building in southern Russia on Monday, state media reported.

Russia’s emergencies ministry told Tass news agency that four people had been pulled alive from the partly collapsed block in Magnitogorsk, an industrial city in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region near the border with Kazakhstan.

Sixty-eight residents were still missing from the high-rise, home to some 120 people, Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky said in a post on Telegram, according to Tass.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived at the scene of the deadly blast on Monday afternoon, as search and rescue efforts for people still trapped inside continued, state news channel Rossiya 24 reported. Over 400 emergency workers were sifting through the rubble.

The local branch of Russia’s Federal Security Service said the blast was believed to have been caused by a gas explosion.

Gas blasts have become a relatively common occurrence in Russia over recent years as the country struggles to cope with aging Soviet-era infrastructure and loose safety requirements, according to Reuters </s> MOSCOW: Russian rescuers were on Monday searching for people still trapped under the rubble of a city apartment block that partly collapsed in a suspected gas blast, killing at least three, RIA said.

Russia's emergencies ministry told the news agency that four people had been recovered alive from the nine-storey building in Magnitogorsk, an industrial city some 1,700 km (1,050 miles) east of Moscow in the southern Urals.

News agency TASS said 79 people were unaccounted for, quoting Chelyabinsk regional Deputy Governor Oleg Klimov.

The emergencies ministry said the blast, probably caused by a gas leak, damaged 48 apartments.

RIA said it ripped through the building at around 0600 a.m. (0100 GMT) when many residents were asleep. Monday is a public holiday in Russia.

There have been several similar incidents in Russia in recent years due to ageing infrastructure and poor safety regulations surrounding gas usage.

In 2015, at least five people were killed when a gas explosion damaged an apartment building in the southern Russian city of Volgograd. </s> Rescuers in the central Russian city of Magnitogorsk are searching for survivors after an explosion devastated a block of flats, killing at least three people.

Officials in the city, in the Urals region, say a gas leak caused the blast. They say 79 people are missing.

The building was home to 110 people, and 48 flats collapsed in the blast.

It is a race against time to find survivors, as the temperature in the industrial city is -15C. </s> A blast at a major explosives plant in central Russia Saturday injured 79 people and damaged nearly 200 buildings nearby, local officials told Russian news agencies.

The explosion happened at the "Kristall" factory in Dzerzhinsk about 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Moscow, in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

A local health ministry official quoted by the TASS news agency said 79 people had suffered light or moderate injuries, a huge increase on the initial figure of 19.

"According to the latest information, 79 people asked for medical help after the explosion at Kristall: 38 factory workers and 41 residents of the city. There are no children among the injured," a health ministry statement said.

Fifteen people were hospitalised but none had life-threatening injuries, it said.

Of the injured, 14 had to be hospitalised, but no one had been killed, said the spokesman.

Earlier, health ministry officials told news agencies that the wounded had "shrapnel wounds of mild and moderate severity" and that they were receiving medical assistance.

The force of the blast damaged five factory buildings and 180 houses nearby.

The deputy governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Dmitry Krasnov, told Russian state television that two people were missing.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it had opened an investigation into potential violations of industrial safety at the plant.

Local emergency services told news agencies that more than 300 people and 50 technical vehicles were taking part in cleaning the plant following the explosion.

Representatives of Kristall told Interfax that five people were working in the area where the explosion occurred and were safely evacuated.

There was no information yet on where the injured were at the time of the blast.

Local fire fighters told agencies they had no information about any more people still inside the plant, which was set up in 1953.

"There was a explosion in one of the workshops, followed by a fire of around 100 square meters," a spokesman of the local emergency ministry told news agencies.

Images on social media showed a large cloud of smoke billowing from the building after the explosion. </s> At least three people died and 13 were injured after a powerful gas explosion ripped through a block of flats in the Russian city of Ryazan. The blast ripped through several floors, practically destroying flats and raining concrete blocks on cars parked below.

“A total of 16 people were injured, three of whom died, while 13 needed medical care. Four were hospitalized, and outpatient care was provided to nine others,” TASS news agency was told by the local branch of Russia’s Emergencies and Disaster Response service.

Earlier reports suggested 16 people were injured and three had died.

Photos and videos of the devastated apartment block in Ryazan, a city some 200 kilometers southeast of Moscow, emerged early Sunday, with the incident taking place late at night.

Police say they are investigating the circumstances of the blast, which is thought to be a likely household gas explosion.

Three of the 16 people injured were found in their flats, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said, adding that a child was among the injured.

At least 60 people had to be placed in a nearby school as a temporary shelter as experts are assessing the damage dealt to the building. </s> MOSCOW — Russian emergency officials say three people are dead and 13 others are injured after an explosion in a high-rise apartment building believed to have been caused by gas.

The explosion damaged several of the top floors in the 11-story building in Ryazan, 180 (110 miles) southeast of Moscow.

The blast occurred about 4:30 a.m. on Sunday. The Emergencies Ministry said 57 people were evacuated from the building. </s> At least four people were killed and dozens of others remained unaccounted for early Monday after a suspected gas explosion ripped through a 10-story residential building in the Russian city of Magnitogorsk.

The apartment block partially collapsed after the blast, which occurred as many of the residents were sleeping at around 6 a.m. local time (8 p.m. ET Sunday).

Rescuers were searching for people trapped under the rubble.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry said 48 apartments were damaged after seven stories of a building collapsed.

Just 52 people out of the 120 people who lived in the collapsed block had been accounted for, Russian news agency TASS reported on Monday, quoting regional Gov. Boris Dubrovsky.

Local officials also warned that two adjacent buildings could be at risk of collapsing.

Magnitogorsk is located 1,050 miles east of Moscow in the southern Urals. </s> Six people have died and eight have been pulled from under the rubble of a two-story building, in the wake of a household gas blast that destroyed two flats and trapped sleeping residents in Ivanovo, Russia.

READ MORE: Moment deadly blast rocks Russian apartment block captured on CCTV (VIDEO)

Rescuers continued searching for survivors in the rubble of the damaged block of flats early on Sunday, after pulling eight people out alive and finding six victims, including a 4-year-old girl. The building reportedly housed 21 people.

A drone footage filmed by the rescue team showed the extent of the damage, with nearly a third of the building destroyed, including several flats on top floor.

Emergency workers had to observe several “minutes of silence” to try and detect survivors trapped under concrete blocks.

READ MORE: ‘Felt like war’: Huge fire & multiple blasts captured in northeast Italy (VIDEO)

A total of 15 people have been evacuated, four of them hospitalized.

Thirteen residents have been rescued from the ruins, and three managed to exit the building on their own.

A strong smell of household gas was reported at the site immediately after the explosion. Witnesses recalled people crying for help from under the collapsed floor.

Two flats were completely destroyed by the explosion. It did not start a fire, however.

The regional investigative committee has launched an inquiry into the blast.
An explosion kills at least six people in Ivanovo, Russia.