MOSCOW, October 19 (Itar-Tass) —— The four persons killed in a gas blast in a residential house in Moscow region’s town of Bronnitsy will be identified using genetic procedures, a spokeswoman for the Moscow region department of the Russian Investigations Committee told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
“The dead bodies of three persons have been recovered from under the debris. Two of them were identified as a male and a female. Rescuers also recovered two body fragments. The persons will be identified in molecular genetic examination,” she said.
According to the spokeswoman, investigators continue checking of the site.
A criminal case was opened on charges of causing death of two or more persons through negligence. “Investigator are taking effort to establish the causes of the blast and its circumstances,” she added.
Meanwhile, according to earlier reports from the Moscow region emergencies administration, rescuers have found the bodies or body fragments of the four people, whose whereabouts have been unknown since the blast. Rescue operations however will proceed till 20:00 Moscow time.
Household gas exploded on the fourth floor at 15:45 p.m. Moscow time on Monday in the first block of a five-storey residential house at 42, Moskvoretskaya Street in Bronnitsy. The blast was followed by fire and destroyed the floor framing at an entrance between the third and fourth floors and the house walls between the fourth and fifth floors. The fire was put down only on Tuesday morning.
According to rescuers, three persons were hurt, one of them was hospitalised.
Some 169 people lived in the house built in 1987. People were accommodated at their relatives and acquaintances or at accommodation facilities.