Moscow, Jan 14 (AP/UNB) — Authorities in southern Russia say a suspected gas explosion has killed at least one person and injured two others.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said that the blast ripped through an apartment building in the city of Shakhty on Monday morning. Rostov region governor Vasily Golubev said on Russian state television that one person has died and two people have been hospitalized.

Rescue workers are searching through the debris. It wasn't immediately clear how many people would be trapped in the rubble, but officials said that more than 10 people were registered in the apartments adjacent to the one where the explosion happened.

The incident came less than two weeks after another suspected gas explosion killed 39 people in a Ural mountains city.

RND/AP/UNB/KC