Six killed in Russian gas explosion

Six people were killed and six others injured when a gas explosion ripped through a building in a remote village in the Russian Far East, officials said.

"Twelve people have been removed from the rubble. Unfortunately, six could not be saved," a spokeswoman for the local branch of the emergency ministry, Yana Ivanova said. "Four more people may still be under the rubble," she added.

The gas explosion hit the two-storey residential housing in the village of Vozdvizhenka in the Primorsky region on the Russian Pacific coast at around 01:00 pm (1500 GMT) yesterday.

The four apartments have been fully destroyed and a total of 45 people have been evacuated, officials said.

Accidents like gas explosions and fires are frequent in the country and highlight lax enforcement of safety regulations, negligence and inadequate Soviet-era infrastructure.