No fewer than 25 people including three children have been confirmed dead and injured dozens, following a fire and explosion at a petrol station in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday morning citing regional emergency medics.
On Monday night, a fire broke out at an auto repair shop by a highway in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, which sits on the Caspian Sea, and produced explosions that spread to a neighboring gas station, officials said on Tuesday.
‘It’s like a war here,’ a witness told reporters
The number of people injured rose to some 66, 10 of whom are in critical condition, RIA news agency said quoting Russian Deputy Health Minister Vladimir Fisenko. Thirteen of the wounded are children, Interfax reported citing the Dagestani health ministry.
An aircraft had been dispatched to Makhachkala to evacuate the seriously injured to Moscow, Russia’s emergency situations ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
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The explosion took place at 9:40pm (18:40 GMT) on Monday night, Sergei Melikov, head of the Dagestan administration, said on Telegram.
‘The reasons and type of the explosion are being clarified,’ he said.
A witness quoted on Telegram by the Russian daily Izvestia said the fire started in an area where cars were parked and spread to the petrol station.
“After the explosion, everything fell on our heads, we couldn’t see anything any more,” the unnamed witness was quoted as saying.
A video posted on Telegram by the RIA news agency showed flames rising from a building, followed by a huge explosion.
The fire spread over an area of approximately 600 square metres (6,450 sq ft), the ministry said, adding that 260 firefighters were deployed.
It took firefighters more than three and a half hours to put out the fire, the TASS state news agency reported, citing a statement from the Russian emergency service.
Two people were also killed and five injured in an explosion at the Talinskoye oil field in Russia’s oil-rich Khanty-Mansiisk (Yugra) region of West Siberia, RIA reported on Monday.
According to RIA, the fire broke out in an area of 100 sq meters. It was initially unclear how the explosion occurred.