MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/: Eight out of 12 flats in a four-story apartment building were severely damaged as a result of a gas explosion in the community of Yakovlevo, in the Belgorod Region, the press service of the Emergencies Ministry’s regional directorate told TASS on Wednesday.
"According to preliminary information, eight out of 12 flats were damaged," a source said, noting that there were no further plans to examine the house in question, because earlier the regional governor reported that "the building is bound to be torn down," the source said.
A gas explosion occurred in the small hours of Tuesday morning on the first floor of a four-story, single-entrance residential building in the community of Yakovlevo. According to prosecutors and medics, the blast killed one individual and left six others injured. Based on preliminary information, a gas-fired boiler in a flat caused the explosion. Belgorod Region Governor Yevgeny Savchenko admitted that the house would have to be torn down and a new building will have to be built. He said that experts would make a final decision on that matter.
The Investigative Directorate for the Belgorod Region of the Russian Investigative Committee launched a criminal case into the gas explosion under item C Part 2 Section 238 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Providing services that fail to meet the health and safety requirements, which led to severe bodily harm, as well as death, out of negligence").
Head of the administration of the Yakovlevo Community District Andrei Chesnokov wrote on Instagram on Wednesday that first responders had finished clearing the debris.
