One Dead, Many Hurt As Power Line Hits Russian Market
August 06, 2009
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- One person died and as many as 20 others were injured when a ruptured power cable fell onto a local market in Russia's Ingushetia region, causing several explosions.
A high-voltage power line hit a store and a nearby car, causing several explosions and starting a large fire in the central market in Ingushetia's main city of Nazran, said a source in the region's Interior Ministry.
He said at least one person had been killed.
"One of the power lines somehow became unhinged and fell on the roof of the market," Ruslan, a 40-year-old shop owner in the market, told Reuters by telephone.
The RIA Novosti news agency quoted local investigators as saying that more than 20 people had been injured.
It was not immediately clear why the power cable fell onto the market, though infrastructure is often in a bad state of repair in one of Russia's poorest regions.
Officials made no immediate link between the incident and a simmering Islamist insurgency in Ingushetia, which has taken over from neighboring Chechnya as the main area of violence in Russia's turbulent southern flank.