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Major fire breaks out at Siberian largest oil refinery, Russia
Two people were killed and five injured as flames tore through the Angarsk Oil Refinery, just north of Lake Baikal, in east Siberia in Russia, following a major explosion. The blast wave was felt some 25 miles away in the city of Irkutsk, triggering ‘panic’ among people that it was an earthquake or plane crash. It even registered as a ‘seismic event’ with a reading of four points on the Richter scale in Angarsk.
Footage shared on social media shows a big bright flash as the facility, which was followed by a raging fire at what is one of the largest refineries in the country. The plant is owned by Rosneft and run by Igor Sechin, a close friend to President Vladimir Putin. Its capacity is of more than 10 million tons, producing liquefied gases, motor gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, various grades of bitumen, coke and oils. It is crucial to the economy in eastern Russia. There was also a fire at the refinery last month, although there were no casualties and operations were not affected. A full criminal probe has been launched by the Russian Investigative Committee to establish what caused the incident. But officials suspect ‘gas contamination of the unit’s systems’ as the likely cause, according to local reports. Sources: Metro, Pravda |
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