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Two killed in Moscow restaurant blast-preliminary reports

Thirty-nine people were injured
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, January 9 (Itar-Tass) —— Thirty-nine people were injured in a Moscow restaurant explosion on Monday, January 9, the head of the city health department, Leonid Pechatnikov, said.

“Thirty-nine people were injured, plus those who asked [for medical attention] from neighbouring flats. Thirty-two people were hospitalised, and seven people with light injuries refused to be taken to hospital,” he said.

Those hospitalised have different injuries, mainly burns, the official added.

The blast in one of the Moscow restaurants in the southwest of the city on Monday, January 9, was caused by the wrong use of gas equipment, a Emergencies Ministry official said.

“According to preliminary information, the incident might have been caused by the wrong operation of gas equipment,” Igor Kuryakov, deputy head of the Emergencies Ministry’s department for Moscow, told Itar-Tass.

Fire-fighters are pouring in water and removing debris at the scene of the incident.

“Investigators are determining the circumstances of the incident,” the press service of the Russian Investigation Committee’s Main Investigation Department for Moscow told Itar-Tass.

“It has been determined that an explosion occurred in the restaurant at 38 Novocheryomyshkinskaya Street at 15:25 Moscow time. According to preliminary information, gas tanks exploded,” the press service said.

“As a result of the incident, 15 people were injured and two died,” it said.

The chief spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry’s department for Moscow, Yevgeny Bobylev, told Itar-Tass that two restaurant workers died and 15 visitors, including a child, were injured, and another 11 people requested medical assistance at the scene of the incident.

He said the fire caused by the explosion occurred at the kitchen and the extension, not in the main building of the restaurant.