Casualties in Astrakhan gas explosion.

Casualties in Astrakhan gas explosion.

english.ruvr.ru

Twelve people are known to have been injured and 14 remain unaccounted for after a powerful gas explosion destroyed a section of a nine-storey apartment block in the port city of Astrakhan in the Volga Delta.

Moscow has sent reinforcements to help local rescuers sift through the rubble.

Seven of the injured people are in hospital. The condition of two of them is described as ‘grave.’

(TASS)

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Dear ATS Community.

I have recently found out that a housing block has exploded in the city of Astrakhan (South Russia.) And my view on the whole issue, with Presidential elections being a few days away is that Mr. Putin (With all due respect) wished the general populace to look another way.

This is a horrible tragedy, but it is not the first time houses explode before elections in Russia. While I am not big on conspiracy theories I am tired of Mr. Putin and I firmly believe his FSB agency had something to do with it. Feel free to discuss this civilly.

Here is a video of the aftermath of the initial gas explosion (It seems a 'suicidal male' 'threatened' to kill himself for quite a while now as mentioned in all major Russian news network. They cover it poorly by the way, a mere five minutes. The floors 0-5 were blown out and the floors above hung suspended above the onlookers and rescue workers before collapsing as well.

The only thing that weighs against an FSB conspiracy for me is that most all of Russia's houses use cheap and dangerous gas for stoves and water heating.

As additional messages are coming in I would like to add that 'Konstantin Markelov' an official from Astrakhan has confirmed that the bodies of a male and a female have been found. They have been 'Fatally compressed by metal doors.' And 'Are yet to be extracted.' Over fourteen persons are still missing. The 'accident' struck when most people were luckily at work, otherwise the casualties would have been higher. (Personally I count that towards the FSB conspiracy.)



english.ruvr.ru
(visit the link for the full news article)



And a further edit shows the blown-up building collapse from another angle. It looks rather peaceful before it finally gives way.

Dear ATS Society.

To delve into why I think this is a conspiracy I would like to offer up some old happenings. I believe they are still relevant to this story. A few years back the Russian Federal Service of Security (FSB) Have been caught red handed with several bags of cyclonite (RDX) in the basement of a living block in the city of Ryazan. First they said it was sugar, but when the contents of the bags leaked out (in both meaning of those words) They said it was a routing exercise to keep the local police on alert to counter terrorism. Like you need several large bags of explosive buried in a building foundation for that. And that was when Mr. Putin was Prime Minister in Russia. Afterwards elections were held and he became President playing the minds of Russians on 'Security' and 'Stability' While really being the chief of several deadly apartment bombings and even more fear mongering. And all that was heavily suppressed and quieted to death in Russia. I see many similarities to what was then and what is now.

Leaving the past let us all analyze and spread those videos as much as possible, before they are suppressed. I want Truth for the Russian People! And I wish for those responsible to be severely punished no matter service, or rank! Does the house collapse look credible? Can a simple gas explosion bring down a whole nine-story section of a concrete-armature paneled high-rise building? I would have thought that the initial explosion would have blown out some windows and possibly doors, and nothing more. And I quietly dread for the storm season in the summer. Those buildings would fall like autumn leaves in the gusting wind. Or would they? So many questions in my mind. And so far only one answer. Mr. Putin will not have my vote in the upcoming elections.

From unsettled Russia with many thoughts in my head, among them Love.

Another addition.

I was calculating how much mass was displaced if there are nine stories gone. The column that collapsed was by very rough estimates twelve-twenty four meters in length, twelve meters in with and a good sixty meters high. That is a lot of concrete and steel and other materials dispersed into the air. That mixture is pretty damaging to our lungs as well. Now the survivors are sheltered in nearby schools and Mr. Putin has of course promised everyone a huge sum and a free house on top. Common practice in Russian disasters. Very few actually have insurance. So we the taxpayers cash out via the state reparations.

We don't know anything yet
To early to say

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Perhaps we will never know. But do you have any educated guesses? I'd love to hear them, as silly as they may sound. (The line with me goes at UFOs, sorry lads.) For example, it could have been a deliberate attack, when few of the work-capable population were at home. To turn heads, eliminate those who would be home on a work-day and generally spread Fear, Panic and Hate. On the other hand it might be a simple case of outdated housing that has not had proper maintenance coupled with a suicidal person who opened up his gas stove and 'let it rip'? My thoughts are not below, or above anyone else. Though I must admit I am having issues coping with the frustration. Deity grant us patience to sort this out.

Having spent time there over the years I can see this happening all by itself.

By my 3rd trip I was avoiding the American hotel in Moscow and staying with Svetlana my interpreter in her apartment.

These apartment blocks are some of the shoddiest buildings I've seen. These apartment blocks are all the same prefab concrete sections. She had a rug in the bathroom wadded up and suffed in a 3 to 4 inch gapalong the wall, you could see right down into the bathroom below. The elevator only worked for 2 days total out of about 30 days, it was a sad state of affairs.

Not that I trust Putin, I just know how these Soviet era apartment blocks were put together.

They aren't heated with gas though now that I think of it, they are steam heated. There are large steam plants that provide heat and hot water to the apartments.

Dear ATS Society.

With a new day comes new news. According to this article in Russian sixteen people are injured in the collapse. There are now six casualties and around fourteen people missing. Seems the engineer for the company responsible for the house and three more persons have been arrested. They are charged with not following fire regulations which led to deaths of two, or more people. I do not know if they are just scapegoats, or really responsible. And I doubt we'll ever find out with our judicial system.

I just think something is very wrong if a possible suicidal person is allowed to open every gas stove vent he has and take a whole nine-story building with him in death. I can relate, we have a gas stove and water heater ourselves, the equipment is old, but the pipes are sturdy and the worst we had was when a kettle boiled over and put out the stove flame, while the gas kept running. We opened the window and let it vent out before reigniting. Everything went well.

Considering government response, they are promising a million rubles to all that lost their apartments in the collapse. And new housing as well. As I mentioned earlier few people have insurance and the state pays for them all, benefiting in some ways and loosing in others.I still try to believe it was not a gas explosion though. Everything is being swept under the rug too fast for my liking.

AGWSceptic you are right of course, large houses like the one collapsing have warm water central heating from local boiler rooms often located near the house. But they would still mostly have gas stoves. I said 'everything' had gas water heaters as well because our own house has both the stove and the water heater running on gas. I just transferred my experience to everything I know, a common human error. Our central heating is a water-circulation system though.

PS! I still hope you enjoyed the warm hearts of the Russian people, even if our buildings were a tad too shoddy for your likes. Come visit us again sometime!

reply to post by RumET


I love russia, riding the midnight train from Moscow to Bryansk in a first class cabin costs $6. The first morning I was at Svetlana's there was an old woman selling pastries from a cart. She these rolls with ground meat that I liked so I bought 3 and paid her one U.S. dollar since I had just got there and hadn't exchanged any money. She tried refusing it as too much but I was in a hurry and just said Spasiba and we left to go start our day.

7 hours later we get back and this old woman is still there with an almost empty cart. She ran over and gave me my change, 13 rubles. Which was less than 50 cents at the time. I learned first trip to only exchange a couple hundred into rubles, meals and such. But American money had more buying power in most places.

90% of the people I met were very friendly, except for the men who stood around smoking in long leather jackets while women did all the work. They seemed to be everywhere.

Some lazy men aside I would live there in a heartbeat.

The apartments I'm familiar with had large cooling pools between the streets that would be liquid water one day and frozen over with iceskaters on it the next. I think she said one central plant runs 5 apartment blocks.

Dear ATS Society,

As stated in this article the tenth perished person has been found in the rubble of a collapsed building in Astrakhan, Russia Now that some time has passed I feel bad for all those perished so that our Beloved Leader can ride in on a white horse and save the day. I can't see anything on Norwegian mass media about it. usually those Norse-lings catch up on news in their neighbor-land quickly. Now, to anyone who reads this thread, feel free to tell us how this is covered in your home land with links and pictures.