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Death toll from Novokuznetsk household gas blast rises to four

The 28-year-old man, who was was hospitalized with burns to 75-80 percent of his body, died early on Monday

KEMEROVO, January 21 (Itar-Tass) — A young man injured in the blast of a gas cylinder in a residential house in Novokuznetsk on January 8 died early on Monday, bringing the number of casualties to four, sources from the press service of the city administration told Tass.

The 28-year-old man (son of the man who was injured in the blast and died in hospital last week) was hospitalized with burns to 75-80 percent of his body. Medics qualified his condition as grave and have fought for his life for almost two weeks.

“He died in the morning,” the press service said. Two children injured in the blast, aged seven and eleven, are still in hospital. “Their condition is stable and is improving,” administration sources said.

The blast at a residential building in Novokuznetsk occurred at 04:14 Moscow time on January 8. Two people died at the scene and eight were rushed to hospital. Two of them had grave injuries - burns to about 80 percent of the body. One of them, a man born in 1953, died in hospital last week, on January 16. A criminal case was opened under Article 109 Part 3 for causing death through negligence.

According to the preliminary reports, the propane cylinder blast could have triggered the fire, as a 50-year-old man brought the gas cylinder to his flat. The regional authorities reported that the man misused the propane cylinder to heat a private house with the heating cannon. However, the valve of the gas cylinder had frozen up over severe frosts, and the dweller brought the gas cylinder to his flat to warm it up.