Death Toll in Russia Military Hospital Blast Rises to 50

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, August 03, 2003

Death Toll in Russia Military Hospital Blast Rises to 50

The death toll of the Friday suicide bombing at a southern Russian military hospital has reached 50, a military spokesman said Sunday.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

The death toll of the Friday suicide bombing at a southern Russian military hospital has reached 50, a military spokesman said Sunday.

Rescuers discovered on Sunday one more body of a woman, a medic,from the ruins of the building, Col. Igor Konoshenkov, spokesman for the North Caucasus Military District commander, was quoted by Interfax as saying.

A KamAZ truck stuffed with explosives rammed through the gate of the hospital in the city of Mozdok in North Ossetia, a neighboring republic of Chechnya, and exploded near the management building at around 7 p.m. Moscow time (1600 GMT) Friday.

The four-storied building was destroyed. The power of the explosives is equal to over one ton of TNT and the blast created a12-meter-wide and 4-meter-deep crater in the ground. At least 82 people were wounded in the suicide attack, Itar-Tass reported Sunday.

Mozdok is the headquarters for Russian forces fighting in Chechnya and has been targeted by attackers before.

Thirty-eight bodies of the victims have been identified so far,Interfax said.

"But 12 bodies, presumably the bodies of visitors, have not been identified," Konoshenkov was quoted as saying, adding that 22 of those killed were federal servicemen.

There were 125 people in the hospital when the explosion occurred Friday, including military and civilian patients and medical workers.

The first compensation payments were made to the families of those killed and injured on Sunday, Konoshenkov said.

"Relatives will receive compensation payments personally from officers of the finance department who have already set out on this mission," Konoshenkov said.

Gen. Sergei Salov, an official of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, said on Sunday that rescuers had stopped their work at the explosion site, for "no more human bodies remainat the scene of the disaster," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Death Toll from Hospital Blast in Russia Rises to 35

Russian Hospital Blast Kills at Least 33

Taiwan Ties Mar Japan's China Interests: News Analysis ( 36 Messages)

Shortage of Electric Power, an Ordeal for China's Economy ( 4 Messages)

Using "E-mail" Concerns Chinese Purification & National Dignity? ( 22 Messages)

US, China Co-operate to Fight Taiwan Referendum Plan ( 3 Messages)

60 Chinese Senior Officials to Be Trained in Harvard University ( 3 Messages)