Officials Say Most Of Magnitogorsk Apartment Block Where Collapse Occurred Remains Habitable

Dozens of people were killed when part of a Magnitogorsk apartment block collapsed on New Year's Eve.

Authorities in the Russian city of Magnitogorsk plan to tear down two portions of the residential complex where 39 people were killed when one section collapsed on December 31.

Officials said on January 6 that the remaining nine sections of the structure remain habitable.

The seventh entrance of the building collapsed early on New Year's Eve in what authorities are investigating as a natural-gas explosion. The eighth entrance was also damaged and both entrances will be demolished.

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Officials also said that elevators in most of the remaining sections would be switched on later on January 6.

On January 5, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order allocating 65 million rubles ($967,000) as compensation for victims of the disaster. Local authorities in Chelyabinsk Oblast have allocated 93 million rubles ($1.38 million).

With reporting by TASS