Nine people, including four children, have died after a suspected gas explosion

Nine people, including four children, have died after a suspected gas explosion in a residential building in Russia’s southeastern Sakhalin island, Qazet.az reports according to the local governor.

The suspected gas explosion took place in a brick building built in the 1980s in the village of Tymovskoye, Russian state-owned Tass news reported.

Preliminary information reportedly pointed to a gas leak, with emergency services cited as saying that a 20-litre gas cylinder connected to a cooking stove had blown up.