Images circulating on social media showed a large ball of fire billowing over one and two-storey buildings in a snow-blanketed village, with residents moving closer to inspect the blaze.
"According to preliminary data, four people were working (at the site). Unfortunately, three of them died when gas suddenly ignited," Oleg Nikolayev said.
"One person, a driver, survived and is in a state of shock," he added on television.
The fire, which emergency services said has been extinguished, erupted near the village of Yambakhtino, around 600 kilometres (372 miles) east of Moscow.
A local branch of emergency services said the blast occurred during planned repairs on the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline, which also known as the Brotherhood pipeline.
The pipeline, which passes through Ukraine, is one of the main gas links from Russia to Europe.
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A deadly blaze at the Urengoy - Pomary - Uzhgorod gas pipeline in Chuvashia left three gas maintenance service workers dead and one injured, the emergency services told TASS.
ReplyDelete"According to the latest updates, three individuals died and one was injured. All of them were working at the gas pipeline," the source specified.
Regional emergency authorities reported earlier that the accident had occurred about 50 km away from the regional capital of Cheboksary. A leak with the subsequent fire that erupted at the underground gas pipeline occurred near Yambakhtino village. The operator was performing service duties there prior to the outbreak of the blaze.
Gas is supplied to consumers in full scope after depressurization with the fire outbreak at a section of the Urengoy-Center-2 main gas pipeline in Chuvashia, press service of Gazprom Transgaz Nizhny Novgorod told reporters.
ReplyDelete"Depressurization with a fire outbreak occurred today at 13:50 Moscow time in the Vurnarsky Distroct of the Chuvash Republic at a section of the Urengoy-Center-2 main gas pipeline. According to preliminary data, three persons died and was injured, with medical aid urgently provided to him. The damaged gas pipeline section was promptly contained. Gas transportation to consumers is provided in full scope over parallel gas lines," the company informed.
Causes of the accident will be ascertained by a specifically created board.