Final toll from collapsed Russian building: 39 dead
Moscow, Jan 4 (AP) After three-and-a-half days of fighting a mountain of concrete, cold weather and time, rescue teams in an industrial Russian city ended a search for people who were inside an apartment building where an explosion triggered a partial collapse, giving a final death toll Thursday of 39.
The massive operation launched by the Russian Emergencies Ministry in the jumbled maze of rubble where a section of a 10-story building stood in Magnitogorsk until Monday morning combined sophisticated equipment with gruelling manual labour.
Russian officials said from the start that emergency crews were racing to reach survivors before they died of hypothermia in temperatures as low as minus 29 degrees Celsius. Supervisors ordered fans to blow warm air into the wreckage while drones, flexible ocular devices and the hands of hundreds probed for signs of life.
A search dog brought hope to the grim work Tuesday when it pointed to a place where rescue workers would hear the cries of a baby. The 10-month-old boy who was pulled out 35 hours after the building came down ended up being the only person found alive in the debris.
The child was airlifted 1400 kilometres to a top hospital in Moscow with severe injuries that included fractures, frostbite and the combination of shock and kidney damage that doctors call "crush syndrome." He was in stable condition Thursday, the Health Ministry said.
A cat was found alive on Wednesday, but that did not provide much solace as search crews discovered more and more bodies. The number of victims grew from four on Monday and kept mounting until the search ended Thursday night.
"We took out the last, the 39th body today and we guarantee that there are no more people in the building," Deputy Emergencies Minister Alexander Chuprian told reporters.
Tallies earlier in the day said 38 bodies were recovered and three building residents still were unaccounted for, suggesting as many as 41 people had been buried in the rubble. It was not immediately clear why officials ended the search when the number of casualties reached 39.
The collapse followed an explosion that officials say likely was caused by a gas leak. Explosions caused by gas leaks in poorly built and indifferently maintained buildings occur often in Russia, but the Magnitogorsk disaster claimed an unusually high number of lives.
Along with the physical demands of wrestling jagged chunks of debris and the emotional stress of a bleak job, the search teams worked around the clock with the constant worry that still-standing parts of the building would fall on them. The search had to be suspended several times while workers stabilized walls or tore away pieces that looked like they might come crashing down.
The operation "was unique in its high risk to people," Chuprian said. On Thursday, the mayor of Magnitogorsk southeast of Moscow, told journalists there was no connection between the explosion at the apartment building and the fiery explosion of a minibus on the same street a day later.
The vehicle explosion took place about 2.5 kilometres from the apartment block. Police said the minibus was carrying gas canisters but have given few other details.
But video of the burning vehicle, including some posted on YouTube by Russia's RT satellite TV channel, featured sounds resembling gunfire and an observer's voice is heard saying people are shooting assault rifles.
Unconfirmed reports have suggested the apartment blast could have been a terrorist act and that the occupants of the exploded vehicle were suspects.
"I want to say that there are no clear facts showing any kind of confirmation of what is described on the internet today," Mayor Sergei Berdnikov said of the reports, according to state news agency Tass.
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Nothing wrong if Kharge wants to come back to Karnataka politics: G Parameshwara
Bengaluru(PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said there is nothing wrong if party national President Mallikarjun Kharge wants to return to state politics.
He was responding to a question from reporters on Kharge's remarks, recalling how he lost the Chief Minister's post to S M Krishna after the 1999 Karnataka Assembly polls. Kharge's remarks added to the speculations of leadership change in Congress and about his return to state politics.
Senior Congress leader Parameshwara also said that wrongly interpreting Kharge is also not correct.
Kharge's statement seems to have rekindled the debate on 'Dalit CM' within the party. The AICC President, who hails from Karnataka, belongs to a Scheduled Caste.
Making a Dalit the CM is a hotly debated matter within the Congress party, the issue on which senior leaders and Ministers Parameshwara and H C Mahadevappa have openly spoken in the past. Both belong to Scheduled Castes.
These comments have come amid speculations within the state's political circles, especially within the ruling Congress, for some time now about the Chief Minister change later this year, citing a rumoured power-sharing agreement involving incumbent Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar.
"Kharge is a senior leader not only in our party, but in national politics, making comments on him is not right. Kharge is competent to hold all kinds of positions; he has experience, and he has been in politics for about 50 years. If he says something, interpreting it wrongly is not correct," Parameshwara told reporters in response to a question.
Asked about some speaking about his return to state politics, he said, "There is nothing wrong in it. He is holding the decisive position in our party. He is the one who decides as to who should be the Chief Minister, being the AICC President. So, in case he wants to come back to state politics, no one should interpret it wrong."
Speaking at an event in Vijayapura on Sunday, Kharge had recalled about him missing the Chief Ministerial post, when Congress came to power in 1999.
"As CLP (Congress Legislature Party) leader I tried to bring the party to power (ahead of 1999 polls), the party formed the government and S M Krishna became the Chief Minister. He had come (as KPCC President) four months ahead (of polls)....all my service was washed down the river. I feel that -- I toiled for five years, but the person who came four months ago was made the CM," the Congress chief had said.
"What I'm trying to say is, we may face difficulties, but we must continue to work without greed in mind. If you are greedy, you won't get anything, also you won't be able to do what's in your mind. Passing through all these things, from being a block president, I have now become AICC President. I did not go behind positions," he further said.
Mahadevappa too, reacting to Kharge's statement on Monday had said, Kharge is one of the senior leaders in the country and he has all the required qualities to occupy any constitutional post, and our wish is that he should get an opportunity, whenever there is one.
Naming Dalit leaders in Congress who have occupied the CM post in other states like -- Damodaram Sanjivayya, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Jagannath Pahadia and Ram Sundar Das, he said, "When time comes the party will take a decision and everyone will abide by it."
However, trying to downplay speculations, Kharge's son and IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday said his father was merely sharing the path he had walked in his political career -- both ups and downs -- and that his speech should be seen in entirety not selectively. He has also made it clear that he has no regrets.
"From the blessings of everyone, the people of Kalaburagi and Karnataka, he is in the post that was once occupied by Subhas Chandra Bose and Gandhiji. Whatever he has decided on his political future, he will decide himself. He has earned that respect and reputation. He has a good relationship with the high command. Whatever he decides, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi will automatically accept it," he said.
