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Four people in intensive care unit after gas blast in Belgorod Region

Three women suffered burns, and a man sustained fractures of facial bones, according to official

© Anton Vergun/TASS

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. Four people are treated in an intensive care unit after a gas explosion in the community of Yakovlevo, in the Belgorod Region on Tuesday, the head of the media relations department at the regional government, Sergei Lukinov, told TASS on Wednesday.

Earlier, prosecutors and medics said that the blast had killed one individual and left six others injured. One person was in an intensive care unit in grave condition, they said.

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"Four people were hospitalized to the regional clinic of Belgorod after the explosion in Yakovlevo, they are now in an intensive care unit. Three women suffered burns, while a man has fractures of facial bones," Lukinov stated.

According to him, medics plan to transfer three women from the intensive care unit to a burn ward on Wednesday evening for further treatment, since "their burns are not extensive." "These are the burns of the hairy part of the head, hands and face."

As for the other injured patients treated in a district clinic, "a woman has hip and shoulder abrasion, and another one has a brain concussion," Lukinov added.

He noted that the injured persons receive medical aid in full and there is no need to move them to other clinics outside the region. "The medics are sure that they are qualified enough" to provide all necessary treatment, while "relatives have a possibility to visit the injured persons," he added.

A gas explosion occurred in the small hours of Tuesday morning on the first floor of a four-story, single-entrance residential building in the community of Yakovlevo. Based on preliminary information, a gas-fired boiler in a flat caused the explosion. Belgorod Region Governor Yevgeny Savchenko admitted that the house would have to be torn down and a new building would have to be built. He said that experts would make a final decision on that matter.

Eight out of 12 flats in a four-story apartment building were severely damaged as a result of a gas explosion, the press service of the Emergencies Ministry’s regional directorate told TASS on Wednesday.

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