One person has died and 13 have been injured in a large fire that broke out near a power station in the town of Mytishchi, near Moscow, a Russian official says.
Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Ilya Denisov told journalists that the fire had been extinguished and one person hospitalized.
Russian news agencies reported earlier that the fire had erupted at a high-pressure gas pump on the station's premises, quoting eyewitnesses and emergency officials as saying that flames leaping into the sky at the facility were up to 50 meters high.
На ТЭЦ в районе Мытищ жарко: там смачно полыхает ГИГАНТСКИЙ ОГНЕННЫЙ СТОЛБ высотой в 50 метров. О пострадавших пока не сообщается pic.twitter.com/8aAkMBIAs6
— Лента.ру (@lentaruofficial) July 11, 2019
However, Denisov said the gas pipeline where the fire started was located near the station, not on its premises. According to Denisov, the fire was caused by a gas leak and that an investigation was being launched into the incident
The Mytishchi power station TETs-27 has been in operation since 1992. Its total capacity is 1,068 megawatts and the main fuel used at the station is natural gas.
The town of Mytishchi is located just northeast of Moscow, some 20 kilometers from the city center.