Twenty-three Russian conscripts were crushed to death when their military barracks collapsed in Siberia, the latest disaster blamed on apparent shoddy construction work and lax safety standards. An entire section of military barracks, including parts of the roof and walls, collapsed on Sunday evening just outside the Siberian city of Omsk as paratroopers were resting, the defence ministry said.
"As a result of the collapse, more than 40 servicemen were injured," Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said on Monday. "Twenty-three conscripts died, the others were hospitalised with various injuries." Nearly 20 injured men have been airlifted to top hospitals in Moscow, the defence ministry said. The blue-and-white barracks - built in 1975 and renovated in 2013 - belonged to the Airborne Forces' 242nd training centre that prepares junior officers and armoured infantry vehicle drivers, among others.
President Vladimir Putin has been informed of the incident, which occurred in the village of Svetly just outside Omsk, some 2,200 kilometres (1,400 miles) east of Moscow, a Kremlin spokesman said. "The president expressed condolences to the families of the victims of the accident at the Omsk training centre," the Kremlin said. Putin was being regularly briefed by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who has been tasked with providing all necessary assistance to the victims, the Kremlin added.
Survivor Maxim Kolmakov said his fellow servicemen realised that something was amiss when chunks of plaster began falling off. "Everyone started running out of the barracks and the barracks began falling apart," he said in televised remarks, adding that some of the young men jumped from the second floor on to mattresses to save themselves. In footage shown on national television, rescue workers formed a human chain to pass bricks and other debris to one another as they cleared the mountain of rubble from the collapse.
"Half of the heap has been cleared now," acting commander of Russian paratroopers Nikolai Ignatov said in televised remarks. Nearly 350 rescue workers and search dogs have been dispatched to the scene, along with military prosecutors. "Rescue works lasted through the night," a spokeswoman for the governor of the Omsk region told AFP. "The governor was there all night." Dozens of relatives of the injured or dead soldiers have already arrived in Omsk, the defence ministry said. Authorities blamed the collapse on negligence by construction workers.