AKIPRESS.COM - At least nine people were killed in an apartment building collapse on January 1 in the Karaganda region, Kazakhstan, rescuers said. 

"The bodies of nine people were retrieved," a representative of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Internal Affairs told RIA Novosti on Monday.

"So far, the bodies of 9 people have been retrieved. There are bodies of three men, three women, three children, two of them born in 2016 and one in 2010," Ruslan Imankulov said. 

A part of the building collapsed on Sunday evening.

Karaganda region governor Nurmukhambet Abdibekov said the explosion of the boiler is to blame for the accident.

"118 people lived in the apartment, including 30 in the collapsed part," Kazinform state-run news agency reported.

Some 280 people, including police officers, rescuers, medical workers are involved in the rescue operation.

The death toll may rise as the rescue and recovery effort continued through Sunday night.