Two in ICU after gas blast rips through residential building in Russia

Moscow [Russia], October 2 (ANI/Sputnik): Two people were hospitalized with burns in the western Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod after a gas blast damaged a residential building, authorities said.
"The woman has 95% of her body burned and the man 35%. Both were admitted to an intensive care unit," Nikolai Karyakin, the head of the Privolzhye university clinic, said.
The Russian regional investigative committee said in a statement that a criminal investigation was underway into the utility company on suspicion that it provided substandard services.
The regional government said the nine-storey building was not at risk, after the gas blast collapsed a balcony and several inner walls. There was no fire. A hundred residents were evacuated to a nearby school. (ANI/Sputnik)