A gas explosion devastated a residential building in Russia's Far East on Thursday, killing seven people and injuring another seven, Russian media reported.

One person missing after the blast ripped through a two-storey apartment house in the village of Vozdvizhenka was found dead under the rubble, Emergencies Ministry officials said. Six bodies had been recovered from the debris earlier.

Emergencies Ministry workers were quoted by news agencies as saying they had established the powerful blast had been caused by a leak of natural gas in the building.