Nineteen dead in Ukraine gas blast

Dozens more people were trapped under the rubble as up to 700 rescue workers searched in close to freezing temperatures for survivors.

Television footage showed them dragging a man out from underneath a heavy slab.

The five-storey building, in the Crimea peninsula resort of Yevpatoriya, collapsed after a suspected gas leak triggered the blast on Wednesday, sending concrete cascading down on two main entrances.

Some of the people trapped in the ruins called relatives on their mobile phones, pleading for a swift rescue, but the calls had petered out by midday yesterday.

The explosion took place at about 9:45pm – when most of the building's 62 residents would have been home.

Ihor Krol, a spokesman for the Crimea branch of the emergencies ministry, said 21 people had been rescued from 35 flats. Four of them were receiving treatment in hospital. He added that, although the cause of the explosion had not yet been established, it was "quite possible that there had been containers with oxygen or acetylene stored in the building".

One witness, Sergei Yurchenko, said: "There was a loud bang, and we rushed out and saw half of the building was missing. There were screams, and a child was crying."

Another resident, who lives opposite the collapsed apartment block, said: "We heard a terrible bang. We thought our balcony crashed because of the way the windows vibrated. But when I went onto the balcony I saw smoke from the other side."

Ukrainian state television pictures broadcast military rescuers searching for survivors among twisted heaps of concrete and glass. Ninety cranes were at the scene.

A middle section of the building was missing, with apartments on either side left exposed. The rescuers called for silence every hour so they could listen out for possible cries for help.

Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian president, and the prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, were flying to Yevpatoriya yesterday. Mr Yushchenko said today would be a national day of mourning.

Ms Tymoshenko promised compensation to families who had lost loved ones in the blast, and said they would be rehoused by the end of the year.

"This is a huge tragedy. The government and local authorities have joined forces to help the suffering families, in order to mitigate this colossal tragedy," she said.

Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president offered to send naval personnel from Russia's Black Sea fleet, stationed at the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol, to help with the rescue. He also offered his condolences to the relatives of the dead. Russians make up more than half the population of Crimea, an autonomous region which used to belong to Russia.

Gas blasts in crumbling blocks of flats are common in former Soviet republics.

Crimea's deputy prime minister, Eduard Grivkovsky, said rescuers were working through the rubble of the third floor to get to the first and second floors, "where there are probably more dead".

Russia issues threat over energy supply

RUSSIA has made fresh threats to Ukraine over its 1.28 billion gas debt as the fourth energy dispute in as many years rumbles on.

Moscow has warned it could cut supplies to Kiev from 1 January if Ukraine does not pay its debt for supplies.

On Christmas Eve, Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, said in a televised interview: "They should pay the money to the last rouble if they do not want their economy ultimately to face sanctions by Russia. It is impossible to go on like that."

Mr Medvedev did not go into details about what sort of sanctions Moscow envisaged.

European countries are watching the dispute closely. However, over the past few months Ukraine has stockpiled a quarter of its annual gas consumption, and, also on Christmas Eve, Russia's state gas giant, Gazprom, floated a compromise that could keep gas flowing to Kiev. Gazprom said Ukraine could avoid being cut off if it explained clearly how it would redeem its gas debt next year. A Gazprom spokesman said: "We must have a clear understanding how we can get this money back."

Mr Medvedev, also made what appeared to be conciliatory comments. "Our goal is not to cut off anyone. Our goal to get our money back," he said.

Gazprom has in the past agreed to restructure Ukraine's gas debts.