At least 10 people have been killed and 76 injured after a severe storm hit areas of central Russia, the Emergencies Ministry says.

Eight of the victims, three of them children, died when trees fell on their campsite in Mari El region.

The campers had failed to take account of the weather forecast and had not registered with the ministry, it said.

The storm affected eight regions, leaving nearly 100,000 people without power and damaging nearly 50 buildings.

The Emergencies Ministry urged people to avoid trees, unstable buildings, walks in the countryside and swimming.

The campsite is near Lake Yalchik, a popular tourist spot in the Mari Chodra national park north of the Volga river more than 600km east of Moscow.

Pictures posted by the ministry showed badly damaged cars and tents beside fallen trees.

Several hundred people were camped on the shores of the lake when the storm hit, the ministry added.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal case.