‘Faulty repairs’ blamed as 23 soldiers killed in Russian military barracks collapse

More than 20 soldiers were killed when the ceiling of a Russian military barracks collapsed. The 23 victims were trapped inside as four stories of the building crumbled. Rescuers searched for hours for victims trapped under the debris of an airborne troops training center in Omsk, Siberia. Nineteen people were injured in the collapse which occurred in the early hours of Monday morning. Authorities sent 10 gravely injured victims to Moscow for treatment.

The barracks in the village of Svetly recently underwent repairs. According to one of the versions, errors possibly occurred during the repair, including a change in design of the building. This version will be checked.

Regional law enforcement source

There were 337 servicemen inside the building at the time of the collapse. The defense ministry would not speculate on the cause of the accident but video footage from the scene showed an entire section of the building lying in ruins. A regional law enforcement source was quoted as saying the accident might have been caused by violations during repair work. Ministry spokesman Gen Maj Igor Konashenkov confirmed the building was renovated in 2013 but insisted that could not have caused the collapse.

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