Russians Call off Rescue Search |
http://www.sina.com.cn 2004/03/19 17:17 Shanghai Daily |
Rescuers called off the search yesterday for victims of a devastating explosion blamed on natural gas that tore through part of a nine-story apartment building in Arkhangelsk, northern Russia, as residents slept, killing 58 people. More than 48 hours after Tuesday's pre-dawn blast, 56 bodies had been recovered, including nine children, regional police and rescue workers said. Twenty-four people were pulled alive from the rubble, but two women died later in the hospital. "We have finished work," Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu told a Cabinet meeting. Questions remained about the precise cause of the explosion that sheared off 36 apartments, leaving a pile of rubble two to three stories high. Russian media called it the deadliest natural gas explosion in the history of a country whose crumbling homes have been plagued by such blasts. Authorities had said on Tuesday that two vagrants were suspected of triggering the blast by stealing metal fittings from gas pipes. Throughout Russia, thieves pilfer power lines, municipal property and industrial equipment in search of copper, bronze and other metals to sell for scrap. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov promised compensation to the blast victims. (The Associated Press) |
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