Nizhnevartovsk to mourn house collapse victims on Dec 7 as search and rescue effort concludes

YEKATERINBURG. Dec 6 (Interfax) - The search and rescue effort in Nizhnevartovsk, where eight people died in an apartment house gas explosion, has concluded; December 7 will be a day of mourning, the governor of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District, Natalia Komarova, said in a statement on Telegram.

"Unfortunately, the residents of the apartment house who had been unaccounted for are dead. [...] As of this date and hour, eight deaths have been established credibly, including four children. The city mayor Dmitry Koshchenko declared December 7 a day of mourning in Nizhnevartovsk," Komarova said.

She expressed condolences to the families and friends of the dead.

The explosion on the evening of December 4, presumably of a gas cylinder in a residential building, led to its partial collapse, including two entrances (third and fourth) and six flats. Eight people were killed; four are in hospital, two of them in very critical condition.