2008 Kazan gas explosion

The Kazan gas explosion occurred on January 9, 2008, destroying an entire corner of a three-story khrushchyovka-style apartment building on Malaya Pechyorskaya Street in the Aviastroitelny District of Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. The explosion took place at 0:28 a.m. local time (UTC +3).

2008 Kazan gas explosion
Location of Tatarstan in Russia
Date9 January 2008
LocationKazan, Tatarstan, Russia
Causegaz explosion
Deaths10
Non-fatal injuries4

History

The blast destroyed 12 apartments and killed ten residents, including one woman who died of blast-related trauma in a hospital after being rescued from the rubble. Additionally, two were non-fatally wounded.

Rescue efforts were complicated by low temperatures of -30 °C, raising concerns that victims trapped in the destroyed building might freeze before being reached by rescuers.[1]

Three of the building residents, including one child, were not immediately accounted for. However, several body parts were found in the ruins,[2] and subsequent DNA analyses determined that the young girl and her grandfather were both among those killed in the explosion. The girl's grandmother, also thought to have been in the apartment, is still counted missing.[3]

The exact cause of the blast has not been established. While a criminal investigation was initiated, city authorities suspect that the cause may have been improper use of gas appliances.[4]

The Kazan city government arranged for residents of the building destroyed in the blast to receive apartments in newly constructed buildings. On July 10, 2008, the first nine affected families received keys to new apartments in a building on Amirkhan Street. The residents received the apartments in exchange for their destroyed ones, an arrangement set up by the city-held OAO Residential Investment Company of the City of Kazan and supported by Kazan mayor Ilsur Metshin and the district administration. Families were also given the opportunity to pay for larger apartments at a discounted price per square meter.[5]

References
  1. "Apartment blast kills eight people in Kazan". RT. 9 January 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  2. В Казани в развалинах взорвавшегося дома найдены фрагменты останков тел (in Russian)
  3. Басилая, Вера (2008-02-27). Опознаны останки семьи, считавшейся пропавшей при взрыве газа в Казани. Komsomolskaya Pravda (in Russian). Retrieved 2008-09-30.
  4. Из-за взрыва в квартире №13 погиб человек, Komsomolskaya Pravda (in Russian)
  5. "Жители дома, пострадавшего от взрыва бытового газа, обрели новые квартиры." Archived 2008-12-01 at the Wayback Machine (July 10, 2008) Жилишная инвестиционная компания г.Казани
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