Eight bodies had so far been found after a gas explosion destroyed an apartment building in southern Russia, officials said Tuesday.
The regional branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry told reporters that three people were still missing and 15 others, including two children, were injured in the accident, Xinhua reported.
The nine-story building collapsed following a gas explosion on the third floor Monday afternoon in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan.
Police said the main cause of the explosion was violation of safety rules, but they also suspected it was deliberately caused by a mentally unstable resident who tried to commit suicide.
According to local reports, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived in Astrakhan Tuesday to visit victims' families and ordered local authorities to deal with the aftermath of the accident.
The authorities have promised to pay 1 million rubles (about 34,000 U.S. dollars) to families of those who were killed in the blast.
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