Three dead as blast shuts part of Russia-Ukraine gas export pipeline
A videograb shows the explosion near the village of Kalinino.
At least three people were killed in Russia during a fire that broke out in a section of a main pipeline feeding Europe with Russian gas, according to the governor of the Chuvashia Republic, Oleg Nikolayev, on Tuesday, where the accident took place.
Nikolayev, who is in charge of this area, about 600 km east of Moscow, told Russian television that, according to preliminary information, four people were working in the place, three of whom died during violent gas burning, and a fourth person, a driver, survived.
The pipeline, built in the 1980s, enters Ukraine via the Sudzha metering point, currently the main route for Russian gas to reach Europe.
Europe's gas prices have surged this year after Russia cut exports through its main gas pipeline route into Germany, leaving only pipelines via Ukraine to ship Russian gas to European consumers.
