At least 30 people were killed and 75 injured Monday night after an explosion at a gas station in Dagestan, a Russian republic in the Caucasus.
Dagestan Governor Sergei Melikov confirmed the death toll, saying three of the dead were children.
“A total of 105 people were injured as a result of the incident at the fuel station, of which 30 died,” Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said on its Telegram messaging platform on Tuesday.
An initial balance, carried out by the ministry this morning, pointed to 12 deaths and more than 60 wounded.
Russian authorities sent an Il-76 medical plane to the Dagestan capital Makhachkala to transport the seriously injured to the country’s capital Moscow for treatment, the ministry said.
The fire on the outskirts of Makhachkala, located on the Caspian Sea, covered an area of about 600 square meters, according to the Ministry for Emergency Situations.
The same source added that 260 firefighters fought the flames, which have already been extinguished.
The fire started in a mechanical workshop, where the cars were parked, and spread to the petrol pump, RIA Novosti said, citing the ministry.
According to the Dagestan Ministry of Internal Affairs, two of the station’s eight fuel tanks exploded.
“After the explosion, everything fell on our heads, we couldn’t see anything,” Russian daily Izvestia quoted an anonymous witness as saying.
A video posted on Telegram by RIA Novosti shows flames shooting out of a building, followed by a massive explosion that caused a deep crater.
Russian authorities have announced the opening of a criminal investigation into the incident.
The families of the fatalities will receive 1 million rubles (about 9,500 euros) each, the Dagestan authorities said, and the injured between 200,000 and 400,000 rubles (between 1,900 and 3,700 euros).
The Russian republic in the Caucasus, neighboring Chechnya and bordering Georgia and Azerbaijan, declared a day of mourning on Tuesday.
Also Monday night, another explosion, at oil exploration in the Khanty-Mansiysk region of western Siberia, killed two people and injured five, local authorities said.
Source: TSF
