Death toll in apartment blast at seven

MOSCOW (AP): Russian emergency officials say the confirmed death toll from the collapse of a section of an apartment building has risen to seven, and 37 residents of the building are still missing. Rescue crews on Tuesday temporarily halted their search through the rubble in the city of Magnitogorsk while workers tried to remove or stabilize sections of the building in danger of collapse.

The collapse in the 10-story building before dawn on Monday followed an explosion believed to have been triggered by a natural gas leak. The Emergency Ministry’s office in the region about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) southeast of Moscow said on Tuesday that seven bodies had been recovered. Five people were hospitalized with injuries.