Polish President Andrzej Duda has sent condolences after an apparent gas blast killed at least 39 people in a residential building in the Russian city of Magnitogorsk.

Russian rescue workers clear debris after the deadly gas explosion in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk. Photo: EPA/RUSSIAN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS MINISTRY

"It is with great sorrow that I received the news about the tragic gas explosion in an apartment building in Magnitogorsk,” Duda said in a message of condolence to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Polish head of state added: “On behalf of the authorities of the Republic of Poland, I would like to offer you condolences for all those who have lost their close ones in this disaster. Poles join in pain with the victims' families and with the injured.”

The message was posted on the president’s website on Wednesday.

The death toll from the disaster progressively rose over the past few days as search crews combed through a huge pile of rubble for survivors amid freezing temperatures.

Russia's Deputy Emergencies Minister Alexander Chupriyan was on Thursday afternoon cited as saying that there were no more bodies under the debris and that the search and rescue operation was over.

Six people, including two children, have been pulled out alive by rescuers from the rubble, according to public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency.

A day of mourning has been declared in the Chelyabinsk region of which Magnitogorsk is part, and people were laying flowers and lighting candles at the site of the explosion, which took place on Monday morning local time, according to media reports.

(gs)

Source: president.pl, PAP, IAR, Reuters