Updated death toll at 10:00 a.m. on Sept. 9.
Suspected gas explosions ripped through apartment blocks in two Russian cities early Wednesday, underscoring the persisting dangers of gas-equipped households.
At least seven residents of a nine-story block were killed and 17 others were injured in the Moscow region town of Noginsk, authorities told state media.
Emergency services later revised the figure to nine injured, including two children, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, which did not mention any deaths.
Searches are underway for at least three people believed to be still inside, it added.
Footage of the explosion and its aftermath showed blown-out walls on the first four floors of one side of the building, with the upper five floors intact directly on top.
Less than an hour after the Noginsk blast, the Emergency Situations Ministry said another gas explosion rocked an apartment building in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg.
The state-run TASS news agency reported that at least one person was injured and there was no risk of building collapse.
The back-to-back incidents highlight the threat posed by gas explosions in Soviet-era residential buildings, which occur regularly across Russia.
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