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FACTBOX: Details about the blaze at Siberia’s biggest oil refinery that left two dead

The Angarsk Petrochemical Company, which owns the refinery, continues to ship fuel in full

© Irkutsk Region Prosecutor’s Office/TASS

IRKUTSK, December 15. /TASS/. Two people died and at least four were injured on Thursday in a fire at an oil refinery in the Irkutsk Region’s Angarsk. The blaze encompassed an area of 2,500 square meters. According to the latest data, the open flames have been extinguished. The Angarsk Petrochemical Company, which owns the refinery, continues to ship fuel in full.

TASS collected the main information on the emergency.

What happened

- The blaze at the refinery's process unit in Angarsk started around 06:00 am (01:00 am Moscow time) on Thursday.

- The fire engulfed an area of 2,500 square meters.

- After about two hours the blaze was localized, at the moment the open flames have been extinguished.

- Witnesses reported on social media that the residents of nearby areas felt the blast.

- According to the Emergencies Ministry’s regional department, the blast could have been ignited by processing unit fumes.

Casualties and victims

- Two people were killed in the fire, according to the regional branch of the Russian Investigative Committee.

- Information on those injured varies depending on the source. The authorities reported that five people were injured: one of them was hospitalized, the rest were sent for outpatient treatment. The Angarsk Petrochemical Company reported about four injured, one of whom was hospitalized.

- The regional Health Ministry said that the condition of those hospitalized was assessed as moderate severity.

Investigation

- The Irkutsk Region branch of the Russian Investigative Committee initiated criminal proceedings under part 3 Article 217 of the Russian Criminal Code (Violation of the industrial safety requirements at hazardous facilities, resulting in the death of two or more persons through negligence).

- A commission was established at the enterprise to look into the causes of the accident.

- The Irkutsk Region Prosecutor General’s office is overseeing the investigation of the circumstances and causes of the explosion, Irkutsk Region Prosecutor General Andrey Kanko came to the site of the accident.

- Investigators are working at the plant.

Aftermath

- According to Igor Kobzev, Governor of the Irkutsk Region, the blaze does not pose any threat to the population.

- Experts from the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) and the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Irkutsk Region took air samples in the neighboring residential area.

- The Angarsk Petrochemical Company reported that it continued to produce and ship fuel in full.

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