Ten deaths have been officially confirmed following a blast in an apartment building in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.
This figure was cited by Emergency Situations Minister Viktor Shufrytch at a press briefing in Dnipropetrovsk on Sunday.
The minister denied rumors that relatives had been receiving mobile phone calls from survivors trapped under the rubble. These rumors were thoroughly checked, he said.
The Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry earlier reported that 23 people had been hurt in the disaster, among them six children.
Sixteen people were in hospitals, as of 7 a.m., Sunday, and 20 remain unaccounted for and are being searched for.
Unofficial sources claimed, meanwhile, that the death toll from the gas blast had risen to 19. The final figure is likely to be higher.
Ten buildings were damaged in Saturday's gas blast in Dnipropetrovsk, according to updated reports. A section of an apartment block collapsed and the rest of the building was damaged. A shockwave damaged seven one-storey private houses and two apartment blocks.