At least 27 people were killed and more than 100 injured in an explosion and fire at a gas station in the Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said yesterday.
“A total of 102 people were injured as a result of the incident, of whom, unfortunately, 27 died,” the ministry said on Telegram.
The explosion in the city of Makhachkala took place at a fuel station after a fire had broken out, the Russian Federation’s Investigative Committee for Dagestan said on Telegram.
Photo: AFP / Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations
“A fire occurred during car maintenance work, followed by a bang, as a result of which people were injured and died,” the committee said, adding that nearby buildings and vehicles were damaged.
A criminal case has been opened to establish the circumstances leading up to the fire, it said.
The state-run TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies reported that the fire had been extinguished, citing the ministry.
Makhachkala, a city of more than 600,000 residents on the Caspian Sea, is the capital of Dagestan, a Russian republic bordering Chechnya, which shares a border with Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The blast was heard shortly before 10pm on Monday, Sergei Melikov, head of the Dagestan administration, said on Telegram.
A witness quoted on Telegram by the Russian daily Izvestia said that the fire started in an area where vehicles were parked and spread to the gas station.
“After the explosion, everything fell on our heads, we couldn’t see anything anymore,” said the witness, who was unnamed.
A video released by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations showed a group of firefighters trying to extinguish high flames near burnt-out vehicles, as rescue workers examined the rubble of a building with flashlights.
The fire had spread over an area of about 600m2, the ministry said, adding that 260 firefighters were deployed.
A government Il-76 aircraft carrying medical equipment was dispatched to Makhachkala to evacuate the seriously injured to Moscow, it added.
“The evacuation of people to the medical facilities has been completed,” Melikov said.
The Dagestan government declared yesterday a day of mourning.
“State flags will be flown at half-mast throughout the country, and cultural institutions and TV channels will be asked to cancel entertainment events and programs,” Melikov said.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS