Reports: Russian nightclub blast kills 76

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian news agencies say an explosion apparently caused by pyrotechnics tore through a nightclub in the city of Perm, killing 76 people.

Emergency officials quoted by state-run news agency RIA-Novosti say the cause was pyrotechnics, but did not specify if the explosives were being used in a show at the club or if they were in storage.

RIA Novosti and other agencies cited unnamed sources in the police and local branch of the emergency ministry as saying preliminary figures show 76 people died. There were about 200 people in the club at the time of the blast early Saturday, ITAR-Tass reported, citing a police source.

Perm is about 700 miles (1,200 kilometers) east of Moscow.