Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry has said several dozen railway containers carrying gas have derailed and caught fire northeast of Moscow, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of local residents.
The ministry said that the accident occurred on Wednesday at a railway station in the city of Kirov, about 800 kilometers northeast of Moscow, when 32 containers loaded with gas condensate derailed and caught fire. It said no one was hurt.
The ministry says the massive fire engulfed a large area around the station, forcing the evacuation of about 700 residents of several nearby apartment buildings.
Several hundred emergency workers were involved in efforts to extinguish the blaze, which has halted traffic on the Trans-Siberian Railway.