By RIA Novosti,
Moscow: A major fire that broke out after a natural gas pipeline exploded in west Moscow early Sunday has been extinguished, the emergencies ministry said.
“The fire at the gas pipeline on Ozernaya Street in west Moscow has been liquidated. Work continues to cool the metal pipe,” said Yevgeny Bobylev, spokesman of the Russian Emergencies Ministry. The blaze was put out 15 hours after it erupted, he added.
The pipeline exploded shortly after Victory Day celebrations, sending flames 100-300 metres into the air. Five people were treated for burns and some 70 cars were damaged by the blaze, the ministry said.
Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who visited the explosion site, said the accident was of a technogenic nature. It was acknowledged as Moscow’s largest fire since World War II.
Some 100,000 telephone users were left without telephone and Internet communications, after the fire destroyed or damaged telephone cables, the emergencies ministry said.