Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble as temperatures expected to drop to -23C overnight

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Four people have been killed and up to 40 are unaccounted for after a gas explosion tore through a residential building in Russia, leaving hundreds without a home in freezing temperatures on New Year’s Eve.

A large section of the high-rise building in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk collapsed after the blast at about 6am local time (0100 GMT) on Monday. Magnitogorsk is approximately 1,000 miles east of Moscow in the Ural mountains.

At least two children and two adults were taken to hospital, officials said.

Authorities initially said up to 70 residents in the collapsed section of the building were missing, but later tracked some of them down.

Local news quoted the emergencies minister, Yevgeny Zinichev, as saying between 36 and 40 people might be under the rubble. The explosion happened before dawn when many people were still asleep.

National television broadcast footage of rescue workers combing through mangled heaps of concrete and metal in temperatures of -18C (0.4F). Powerful heaters were deployed in the hope of stopping any trapped survivors from freezing to death.

Temperatures in Magnitogorsk were expected to plunge to -23C on the night of New Year’s Eve, the biggest holiday of the year in Russia.

Officials warned that two more sections of the Soviet-era high-rise on Karl Marx Street were in danger of collapsing.

Local resident Anna Koroleva told Echo of Moscow radio that the explosion shattered the windows of nearby buildings.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An emergency officer takes part in a search and rescue operation. Photograph: Ilya Moskovets/AFP/Getty Images

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, rushed to the city and television showed him grim-faced and in a black winter jacket as he met with local officials. He was also shown putting on a white coat and visiting a victim in hospital.

Located in the mineral-rich southern Ural region, Magnitogorsk, with a population of more than 400,000 people, is home to one of the country’s largest steel producers.

The high-rise was built in 1973 and was home to about 1,100 people. Residents were evacuated to a nearby school.

Volunteers offered money, clothing and essentials to the victims, and some said they were ready to provide temporary shelter to those in need.

The regional governor, Boris Dubrovsky, said authorities planned to buy apartments for people who had lost their homes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Vladimir Putin (centre) attends an emergency meeting about the collapse. Photograph: Ilya Moskovets/TASS

Staff from the local MMK iron and steel works took part in the rescue operation.

The billionaire Viktor Rashnikov, who controls the plant, called on city residents to help the victims.

“This is our common tragedy and pain,” he said in a statement, adding that MMK would provide financial assistance to those in need.

Investigators opened a criminal inquiry into the accident, with the state FSB security service confirming the blast had been the result of a gas explosion.