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All services work urgently over incident in Moscow metro - Puchkov

The minister of emergency situations noted that the incident occurred in the rush hour, when tens of thousands of passengers were going in the trains

MOSCOW, June 5 (Itar-Tass) - All services worked urgently over the incident in the Moscow metro that allowed averting more serious consequences, Russian Minister of Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov said on Wednesday.

“All services worked urgently. This fact permitted to minimize those losses that could have been sustained,” he said.

In his words, all needed fire and rescue units were dispatched immediately, the bodies of control were engaged, the interaction was established between different structures. “The informing of people was provided timely that permitted to avert those major problems that could have been emerged,” Puchkov noted.

The minister of emergency situations noted that the incident occurred in the rush hour, when tens of thousands of passengers were going in the trains. “This was a difficult situation,” the minister went on to say, adding that several thousands of people were evacuated to the surface and several tens of people unfortunately needed medical aid. The medical aid was provided timely, the minister noted.

“I estimate the work of all services very positively,” the minister said in conclusion.

He noted once again that no additional checks in the metros of the Russian cities are needed, because different services are doing the planned work to ensure safety. However, Puchkov added that additional monitoring of the situation will be provided.

The fire broke out over the short circuit of the high voltage cable in the morning rush hour in the tunnel between the metro stations Okhotny Ryad and Biblioteka Imeni Lenina on Wednesday. People had to be evacuated from the metro stations and the metro trains stranded in the tunnel. The metro train traffic was restored at 12:00 Moscow time from the metro station Park Kultury to Komsomolskaya, but the train traffic was provided on the curtailed schedule.

However, the high voltage cable began sparkling again at the same place over the short circuit. Therefore, the high voltage power was switched off, and the train traffic was stopped again from Park Kultury to Komsomolskaya.

According to the latest reports, over 60 people turned for medical aid, 17 people were hospitalized.