Arkhangelsk explosion of 2004

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On March 16, 2004, an explosion destroyed a corner section of a nine-story Soviet-era apartment building in Arkhangelsk, Russia. It happened at 3:25 a.m. local time (UTC +3). The explosion occurred in 120 Avenue of the Soviet Cosmonauts in the October district (Oktyabrskiy rayon) of Arkhangelsk.

The death toll from the explosion was 58 (33 women, 16 men and 9 children). At least 2 of the dead died in a hospital after being rescued.

The explosion came two days after Vladimir Putin won reelection and several weeks after a suicide bombing killed 41 Moscow subway passengers.

In April 2004, authorities arrested and charged 26 year-old former employee of city gas services Serguey Alekseychik. On December 16, 2005 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. According to the official version, Alekseychik was fired from his natural gas technician job several days prior to the explosion. To get even with his former employers and the city he sabotaged the gas system thus causing the tragedy. Some observers, however, refused to accept this explanation as too unrealistic.