MOSCOW, January 9 (Itar-Tass) —— 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.