Seven dead, nine missing after fire at Russian gas plant

A massive fire at a gas complex under construction in Russia’s Amur region in the Far East has killed seven workers, including six Chinese nationals, while nine other Chinese workers remain missing.

According to the plant’s management, as reported by Asharq, the incident left a total of seven people dead and injured 152 others, 36 of whom were taken to hospital. The fire, which broke out yesterday, has since been extinguished.

The management added that an emergency services aircraft arrived to transfer the injured to other hospitals in Russia.

The Amur Gas Chemical Complex is a joint venture between Russian company Sibur and Chinese oil and gas firm Sinopec. It describes itself as one of the world’s largest producers of polyethylene and polypropylene.

Following the incident, a special committee was formed to investigate the cause of the fire, and a criminal probe has been launched into possible violations of safety regulations at hazardous production facilities.

The complex was expected to have an annual production capacity of 2.3 million tons of polyethylene and 400,000 tons of polypropylene.