Death toll rises to 17 in Argentina's building blast

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Death toll rises to 17 in Argentina's building blast

(Xinhua) 08:32, August 12, 2013

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BUENOS AIRES, Aug. 11 -- The death toll of the apartment building blast occurred on Aug. 6 in Argentina's city of Rosario rose to 17, while four people are still missing, local authorities said Sunday.

On Sunday noon, Jorge Elder, director of Rosario's town hall secretary general, told the press that the toll went from 15 to 17 after two more bodies were found in the building's debris early Sunday morning.

The blast occurred in an apartment building in downtown Rosario, Argentina's second largest city, located at 300 km northwest of Buenos Aires.

The governor of Santa Fe province, Antonio Bonfatti, said on Saturday that "there is an enormous work to assist the families and the victims," adding that "now, what is urgent is to find the missing people."

Bonfatti announced on Tuesday that the dwellers of the collapsed building "will receive a benefit of 50,000 Argentine pesos (9,025 U.S. dollars) to buy furniture and 20,000 pesos (3, 610 dollars) to rent a home."

The blast also injured 63 people, among them 10 remain in the hospital on Sunday, one in a critical state, according to health reports.

The government of Argentina Wednesday declared two days of national mourning for the fatal victims of the blast. Also on Wednesday, President Cristina Fernandez traveled to Rosario and visited the hospital where the severely injured were being treated.

（Editor：LiangJun、Zhang Qian）