12 Killed in Petrol Station Explosion in Russia

The emergency situations ministry reported Tuesday that an explosion and fire at a gas station in the Russian region of Dagestan in the Caucasus left at least 12 people dead and several more injured.

The ministry said on Telegram that "more than 60 people were hurt in the fire in Makhachkala, and 12 of them died."

The capital of the Russian republic of Dagestan, which borders Chechnya and borders Georgia and Azerbaijan, is Makhachkala, a metropolis of more than 600,000 people on the Caspian Sea. Dagestan is a republic in the Russian Federation.

According to the Investigative Committee for Dagestan of the Russian Federation, the explosion happened at a vehicle service station's building where a fire had started during maintenance.

It said that surrounding homes and automobiles were also destroyed. "A fire occurred during car maintenance work, followed by a bang, as a result of which people were injured and died," it stated.

According to the statement, a criminal investigation has been launched to determine the events that preceded the tragedy.

According to the state-run TASS and Ria Novosti news agencies and the Russian emergency ministry, the fire has been put out.

The explosion was heard on Monday just before 10:00 p.m. (1900 GMT), according to Dagestan administration chief Sergei Melikov on Telegram.

The Russian daily Izvestia cited a witness on Telegram as saying that the fire began in a parking lot and quickly spread to the gas station.

The unidentified witness claimed that after the explosion, "everything fell on our heads, and we could no longer see anything."

A video from Russia's emergency situations ministry showed rescuers using flashlights to look through a building's wreckage while a group of firemen battled strong flames beside burned-out automobiles.

The ministry reported that 260 firemen were on the scene and that the fire had grown to a size of around 600 square meters (6,450 square feet).

It was stated that a government Il-76 carrying medical supplies was sent to Makhachkala to transport the badly injured to Moscow.

"The evacuation of people to the medical facilities has been completed," Melikov declared.