Moscow apartment building explosion injures three children

Three children were injured in an explosion in a five-story apartment building in Moscow on Monday, emergency services said.

The blast occurred on the fourth floor of the building in the east of the Russian capital at around 11:00 am (08:00 GMT), the emergencies ministry said in a statement.

The children, aged 10, 12, and 14, were taken to hospital with burns and other injuries, the ministry said.

The cause of the explosion is under investigation.

The building has been evacuated and emergency services are on the scene.

The incident comes just over a week after a gas explosion in a residential building in the city of Magnitogorsk killed at least 39 people.

Gas explosions are a relatively common occurrence in Russia, where much of the housing stock is old and poorly maintained.

In 2015, a gas explosion in a residential building in the city of Volgograd killed six people and injured 15 others.

In 2013, a gas explosion in a residential building in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny killed 52 people and injured dozens more.

The Russian government has taken steps to improve safety standards in residential buildings, but experts say that more needs to be done.