Reconstruction of death

According to the main version, the explosion in a house on Academician Korolev Street was caused by military history buffs

Three people were killed, three more were hospitalized and dozens were left homeless as a result of an explosion that rocked a 22-story residential building on Akademika Korolev Street in Moscow last Friday. In the very first hours of the investigation, the intelligence services came to the conclusion that this was not a terrorist attack. According to preliminary data from experts, the cause of the tragedy could have been violations of safety standards during gas welding work, which was carried out in the apartment that exploded by two students - lovers of historical reconstructions for the manufacture of ancient weapons, chain mail, and helmets. Based on the incident, the Ostankino district department of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office (SKP) opened a criminal case under Article 216-3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of safety rules during construction work, resulting in the death of two or more persons through negligence).

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, an explosion occurred at about 19.15 in an apartment on the 11th floor of the first entrance of building No. 11, bldg. 1, on Akademika Korolev Street. The blast wave knocked out four concrete panels from the outer wall - on the 10th, 11th and 12th floors, which collapsed on cars parked in the yard. Fortunately, there were no people in them, and no one was hurt below. Immediately after the explosion, a strong fire broke out in three apartments, to which experts assigned the second category of complexity on a five-point scale. The arriving fire crews managed to control the fire only an hour later. Residents of the house were evacuated to a nearby school, to the Ostankino and Altai hotels, the rest found temporary shelter with relatives.

Rescuers were able to begin inspecting the destroyed apartments and clearing the rubble only after a few hours. Due to the fact that part of the external load-bearing slabs were knocked out by the explosion, there was a threat of collapse of the surviving structures, and specialists first had to install special supports in the resulting gap.

Already at night, when examining the epicenter of the explosion, rescuers found the bodies of three dead in apartments on the 10th and 11th floors. All of them were badly burned, and their identities have so far only been tentatively established. According to the main version, these are two students who were in the apartment in which the explosion occurred, and a woman from a neighboring apartment who was crushed by a slab. “Three more people went to the hospital - two allergy sufferers who inhaled gas or smoke, and one person with a nervous disorder,” said Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who went to the scene of the emergency.

The SKP and FSB officers who inspected the scene of the incident almost immediately ruled out versions of both a terrorist attack and a domestic gas explosion. As experts found out, the explosion was caused by the detonation of a gas-air mixture, but the house itself was not connected to a centralized gas supply, but was equipped with electric stoves. As a result, the main version was put forward of a violation of safety standards during repair work.

“The cause of the explosion was most likely a violation during welding work. According to preliminary data, repair work was carried out in the apartment - the epicenter of the explosion. Experts established the location of the explosion - it was the toilet room, where welding work was being carried out at that time,” Mr. Luzhkov said. A little later, after interviewing the residents of the house, FSB officers determined that the culprits of the tragedy could have been two dead students who were using a propane-butane gas welding machine in the apartment. “These were two student friends who were interested in making ancient weapons, chain mail, and helmets,” said Mr. Luzhkov. “The apparatus with propane-butane gas, with which they were doing soldering, exploded.”

The city authorities promised to restore the damaged house in the near future and pay compensation to all residents of the entrance. “It exploded quite a bit, but the house is stable, the main floors and structures were not damaged,” explained the mayor of Moscow. “The main danger is that the ceilings may collapse, so all the apartments below are checked.” As representatives of the mayor's office explained, first of all the side and internal ceilings will be strengthened. In particular, it is planned to build a steel tension frame along the external wall of the house. In the meantime, “beacons” have been installed on the load-bearing structures, which will record their condition throughout the repair process. In general, restoration work, according to experts, may take about one and a half months.

Ekaterina KARACHEVA