At least two people have been killed after a gas explosion in an apartment building outside Moscow.

       Russian authorities said that at least five others were injured and have warned that there may still be people buried under the rubble.

       The blast occurred on Wednesday morning in a nine-story residential building in the town of Noginsk, 50 kilometres east of the Russian capital.

       The explosion damaged around thirty apartments in the lower part of the building, Russian authorities added. Local authorities had evacuated a further 170 people from the scene.

       "As a result of domestic gas explosion there was a partial collapse on two floors of a multi-story building," the regional branch of Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement.

       "A criminal case has been opened in Noginsk over the provision of services that did not meet safety requirements."

       The governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, has also headed to the site of the blast.