One dead, 7 injured in gas blast in Tatarstan apartment block

Moscow [Russia]: One person was killed and seven others were injured in a gas explosion in an apartment block in the city of Zelenodolsk in the Russian republic of Tatarstan, the Emergencies Ministry said in a statement. "According to updated information, seven people were injured, one was killed," the ministry said.

Earlier, regional emergencies services said several apartments had collapsed in a nine-story building in Zelenodolsk after a gas blast. Regional investigators said they considered a household gas leak as the main cause of the explosion. A criminal case was opened.

A regional Health Ministry spokesman told Sputnik that five people had been hospitalized after the incident. A source familiar with the situation told Sputnik that a suicide attempt could have been the cause of the gas blast.

"Among the versions of what happened, we are considering, among other things, an attempt to commit suicide by one of the residents of the apartment block," the source said.