Six members of the family of Tajik national Mahmadroziq Samiyev who were reported missing after an explosion devastated a block of flats in the city of Magnitogorsk in the Ural region on December 31 are alive.

Recall, a 26-year-oldresident of Kushoniyon district in Khatlon province Shuhrat Ulfatov was found alive in ruins of the collapsed apartment building on December 31.  But the fate of his wife Rajabmo Isyoyev and their two children is still unknown.

“Six members of the family of Tajik national Mahmadroziq Samiyev who were reported missing after an explosion devastated the  apartment building are alive,” Consul General of Tajikistan in Yekaterinburg, Safar Safarov, told Asia-Plus by phone Wednesday afternoon. 

“Yesterday, I visited them.  They survived the gas explosion and they are okay,” said Tajik diplomat.  

---

Meanwhile, citing the emergencies ministry, Russian news agency reported on January 2 that search crews have pulled more bodies from a huge pile of rubble at the collapsed apartment building in Magnitogorsk, bringing the known death toll to 19.

The bodies found in Magnitogorsk on Wednesday reportedly included a 3-year-old girl. 

The Russian emergencies ministry said on January 2 that about 25 people remained unaccounted for after an explosion caused part of the building to collapse, leaving dozens of people homeless over the holiday.

Russian authorities have said since shortly after the collapse that a natural-gas explosion was the most likely cause.

But in a statement issued on January 1, the federal Investigative Committee said the authorities were looking into “all possible causes” and added that no signs of a bomb blast have been found.

The blast, at 06:02 local time is thought to have ripped through the first floor, which houses some offices, and the seven stories above then collapsed.  There are concerns another two sections of the block, which was built in 1973, could collapse. 

The building was home to 120 people, and 48 flats collapsed in the blast.