At least 27 people were killed and dozens more injured in an explosion and fire at a gas station in Dagestan, a Russian republic in the Caucasus, according to a new report released Tuesday, August 15 by the Ministry of Situations Russian emergency.
“A total of 102 people were injured as a result of the incident, of which, unfortunately, 27 died,” the ministry said on Telegram. An investigation has been opened to establish the circumstances of the disaster, communicated on the same social network the department in charge of investigations to the investigative committee of the Russian Federation for Dagestan. The gas station is located in Makhachkala, a city of more than 600,000 people located on the Caspian Sea and capital of Dagestan, a Russian republic neighboring Chechnya, which shares a border with Georgia and Azerbaijan.
According to Russian agencies TASS and RIA Novosti, the fire has been extinguished. The Emergency Situations Ministry had earlier reported that it spanned about 600 square meters and mobilized 260 firefighters. A medical plane was dispatched to Makhachkala by the Russian authorities to evacuate the seriously injured to the Russian capital Moscow, the ministry added.
gigantic explosion
The disaster took place shortly before 10 p.m. (9 p.m. in France) on a federal road, said the head of the administration of the Republic of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov. “A fire occurred during car maintenance work, followed by a detonation, as a result of which people were injured and [others] died,” the investigation department wrote on Telegram. Surrounding buildings and vehicles were also damaged, the same source added.
According to a witness quoted on Telegram by the Russian daily Izvestia, the fire broke out in an area where cars were parked and then reached the gas station. “After the explosion, everything fell on our heads, we can’t see anything,” said this witness, whose name was not mentioned. A video published on the same social network by the Russian agency RIA Novosti and filmed by a motorist shows flames rising from a building, then a gigantic explosion.