Rescuers hunted for survivors on Monday after a gas explosion tore through a high-rise residential building in central Russia, killing at least four people and leaving dozens unaccounted for. A large section of the building collapsed after the explosion around 6:00 am local time (1100 GMT) at the high-rise in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, nearly 1,700 kilometres (1,050 miles) east of Moscow in the Ural mountains. President Vladimir Putin rushed to the city, where the blast left hundreds of residents homeless in freezing temperatures on New Year’s Eve — the biggest holiday of the year in Russia.
