A gas canister exploded in an apartment building in a Russian city, injuring nine people, including three children, officials said Saturday. The explosion occurred late Friday in an apartment of a nine-storey building in the city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, the regional branch of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement. Residents apparently had brought the canister to help heat their apartment as temperatures in the city fell to minus 34 degree Celsius (minus 30 Fahrenheit), it said. Russia has seen a spell of unusually cold weather during the past week that has strained the nation's infrastructure and prompted many to turn to supplemental electric and gas heaters, The Associated Press reported.
