KIEV, June 18. /ITAR-TASS/. The blasted section of Russian-Ukrainian gas pipeline Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod was in emergency condition, head of central Ukraine’s Poltava regional authorities Viktor Bugaichuk said in an interview with Ukraine’s 5th TV channel.

In his words, “Engineers of gas mains informed Ukraine’s Naftogaz two years ago about emergency condition of the gas pipe. This section of the gas pipeline has 11 patches.” However, the Ukrainian energy company refused to make allocations for repair. In the view of Bugaichuk, depressurization of the gas pipe could have resulted from ground cave-in.

Depressurization of Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas main triggered a fire at 2.20pm local time on Tuesday in Lokhvitsy district of Poltava Region. The flame was 100 meters high. No people were injured in the gas fire.

The country’s gas delivery company Ukrtransgaz noted that the damaged section of the gas pipeline had been sealed off urgently at gas compression stations. “The gas pipeline was sealed off at a section of around 20 kilometers. The gas flow was shifted to a parallel branch of the gas pipeline,” the press service noted. The company said earlier the gas pipeline explosion had not affected gas transit to European countries.