Explosion at Rosneft oil refinery in Angarsk: fire breaks out, people killed
A series of fires at industrial enterprises continues in Russia (Photo:@PierreDBorrelli/Twitter)
An explosion ripped through one of Russia’s largest oil refineries, in Angarsk near the border with Mongolia near Lake Baikal, setting off a large fire, Russian media reported on Dec. 15.
The Irkutsk department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that the fire had spread to technical utilities of the plant.
The area of the fire totals 2,500 square meters (27,000 square feet), the local governor, Igor Kobzev, wrote on Telegram.
A video captured the moment of the explosion and quickly spread on social media.
The local authorities reported that two of the oil refinery's employees had been killed and five more injured.
Russia's Regional Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case under Article 217, Part 3 of the Criminal Code, namely "violation of industrial safety requirements of hazardous production facilities, which caused the death of two people."
Mash Telegram channel clarified that a gas leak in the processing plant’s systems had caused the incident.
The oil refinery in Angarsk is the biggest one in Siberia. It is owned by the state energy entity Rosneft.
A wave of fires has hit a number of industrial enterprises and shopping malls in Russia.
On Dec. 9, a massive fire broke out in Mega Mall Khimki in Moscow. The fire area totalled 17,000 square meters (about 200,000 square feet). It initially started at home improvement supplies retailing company OBI that was sold to a Russian businessman from a symbolic EUR 10 after the German chain pulled out of Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The building is not subject to restoration.
Later that day a major producer of tires for the Russian air forces and military vehicles, Altay Tire Factory in Barnaul in Siberia went on fire.
On Dec. 13, a fire occurred at the Zvezda machine-building factory in Saint Petersburg.
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