Russian apartment block collapse death toll rises to 28

Part of 10-storey building in industrial city of Magnitogorsk crumbled in early hours of Monday morning following gas leak

Rescuers work at the site of a partially collapsed apartment block in Magnitogorsk (REUTERS)

More bodies have been pulled from the rubble of a partially collapsed Russian apartment, bringing the death toll to 28.

Part of a 10-storey building in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, in the Ural Mountains, crumbled in the early hours of Monday morning following an explosion which is believed to have been caused by a gas leak.

More than 28 people are known to have died so far and authorities have said another 13 who lived in the building still remain unaccounted for, including five children.

The prospects of finding any of them alive in the rubble appeared to dim after two frigid nights in which temperatures fell to about minus 20 degrees Celsius.

However a 10-month-old boy was pulled alive from the wreckage on Tuesday, nearly 36 hours after the building collapsed.

He was flown about 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) to the capital in a plane dispatched by the health ministry and is in a serious but stable condition in a children's hospital in Moscow.

Health minister Veronika Skvortsova said the boy suffered superficial head wounds but no apparent brain damage.

A cat and a parrot were also pulled alive from the wreckage on Wednesday, about 60 hours after the collapse.

A day of mourning was declared in the Chelyabinsk region that includes Magnitogorsk, and residents laid flowers and place candles at the scene.

Some Muscovites laid commemorative flowers at the entrance of the office for the regional government's representative in the capital.