Expressing sympathy to the families of those killed in the incident, Kan'ani wished speedy recovery for the injured.
An explosion struck an apartment block in Novosibirsk at 07:43 a.m. local time (03:43 a.m. Moscow time) on Thursday, causing two sections of the building to collapse and starting a fire that engulfed the area of about 300 square meters. According to preliminary data by the emergency services, the blast was triggered by a gas leak.
At least 13 people were killed and nine were injured following the incident.
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