MOSCOW, January 3. /TASS/. Eighteen people have been rescued in the first few hours after the building collapse in Magnitogorsk, the Russian Emergencies Ministry press service told TASS.
A section of a ten-story apartment block collapsed in Magnitogorsk on December 31. According to the latest data, the accident claimed the lives of 39 people, among them six children. The search and rescue operation on recovering bodies trapped under the rubble finished on January 3. The Russian Investigative Committee views a household gas explosion as the main cause of the accident.
"With the help of special high-altitude equipment, eighteen people have been rescued from the semi-destroyed apartments <…> in the first few hours after the tragedy. Another six people, including two children, were saved by the Emergencies Ministry employees during the operation on the removal of the rubble," the Russian Emergencies Ministry informed.
Over a thousand rescue workers participated in the operation, under constant threat of further collapse of the building. The rescue and search operation on recovering bodies from the rubble has finished, a Russian Emergencies Ministry official said earlier, adding that "the rescue and search operation is moving on to the next stage, the so-called engineering stage."
A Christmas miracle
The rescue of a ten-month-old infant Vania can indeed be considered a miracle: he had spent 35 hours in the cold (the temperature reached as low as 30 degrees Celsius below zero) with severe injuries, trapped under the rubble in his cradle. Rescue workers Pyotr Gritsenko and Andrey Valman are credited with saving the baby.
"In one of the areas [of the rubble], department head [of the search and rescue center "Leader"] Andrey Valman heard a baby crying. We have called the head of the center, started to listen, gave an order to halt the work of all equipment, and we heard the crying. After that, we used the technical equipment of sound and vision locating, invited the dog handlers that investigated the area with dogs and confirmed that there is a human being inside," Gritsenko said.
According to the rescue worker, he did not feel any emotions while he was doing his job. "I only wanted to remove the rubble as soon as possible, to help as soon as possible and to get [the baby] to the hospital," he stressed, adding that Vania was the first person he saved during his time as a rescue worker.
Gritsenko stated that during a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which the Russian leader thanked the rescue workers for their efforts, he said that this would stay with him for the rest of his life. "A saved human life is the strongest feeling that can ever exist," Gritsenko said.