An explosion and severe fire occurred at an oil refinery in Angarsk in the Irkutsk region – two people were killed and five others were injured.
Following shopping centers in Russia, oil refineries suddenly began to catch fire. The fire at the process unit at the industrial site of the Angarsk Petrochemical Company started around six in the morning local time. The fire spread over an area of 2.5 thousand square meters. During the explosion at the refinery, a seismic event was recorded, which many locals thought was an earthquake.
The most powerful explosion
“If we use the macroseismic field equation for earthquakes for this event, then the theoretical intensity of seismic vibrations at a distance of 40 km is 2 points, at a distance of 10 kilometers – 4.5 points, at a closer distance is the intensity could be higher,” said the Baikal branch. United Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
According to seismologists, the explosion was also felt in Irkutsk (more than 40 km from Angarsk in a straight line). As a result of the incident, two refinery employees were killed, five more people were injured – one had to be hospitalized, four were sent for outpatient treatment.
Local residents say they felt the explosion a few kilometers from the epicenter.
Two people were killed in an explosion at an oil refinery in Angarsk. pic.twitter.com/LH3UMMSz6e
— Lieutenant Kizhe (@Lt_Kizhe) December 15, 2022
“Nthe war began”
A resident of the village of Meget, located 15 kilometers from Angarsk, said that his house shook from the explosion, and many doors and windows of neighbors opened.
“I stood up to open the door for the dog, and I heard a loud roar. Then a blow on the wall. I thought the war had started. It seemed like the glass would fly now. We live in a private house .- said the woman .
A resident of Angarsk itself, where the explosion occurred, told the publication that when he saw the glow, he thought a plane had crashed in their area.
“A little more, and the windows flew out. My mother called in fear, she lives on a nearby street. In the 30 years that my parents lived here, this was the first explosion of such force at the plant . In November there was a fire, we saw a glow, but the explosion was not there then,” he said.
The last time a fire broke out on the territory of the industrial area in Angarsk was on November 27. Then the technological installation of the heat exchanger burned down, the area of the fire was 250 square meters. Due to the incident, no one was injured.
Angarsk Petrochemical Company is the largest enterprise in Eastern Siberia for the processing and production of petroleum products, which is part of Rosneft, annually it processes about 9 million tons of oil.
Market
Before this, large fires occurred in two shopping centers near Moscow. In Khimki, the OBI hardware store was completely burned down, and in Balashikha, the Stroytrakt hypermarket. The fire area in the construction hypermarket in Balashikha reached 10 thousand square meters. m, the fire area in OBI is estimated at 17-18 thousand square meters. m.
Source: korrespondent
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