An explosion on a major underground gas pipeline near the Siberian city of Omsk sent a column of fire into the air on Tuesday, forcing several industrial plants to cut off gas supplies, regional officials said.
The blaze erupted in a field near the town of Rostovka, around 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of Omsk, according to the regional branch of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Videos circulating on social media showed commuters standing at a bus stop as a loud blast sounded behind them and flames shot up in the distance.
Omsk region Governor Vitaly Khotsenko said investigators were examining a possible gas leak as the cause of the blast. The prosecutor’s office said it was overseeing a preliminary investigation into the incident.
Khotsenko said that a number of industrial plants were disconnected from the gas network as technicians worked to restore service. Specialists at Gazprom expect repair work to take up to 24 hours, he added.
The governor said there had been no injuries or deaths as a result of the gas pipeline explosion and that residents of Omsk and nearby towns were not at risk.
The incident did not appear connected to overnight Ukrainian drone attacks, which were reported mainly in regions along Russia’s border with eastern Ukraine, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Accidents involving gas pipelines occur periodically across Russia’s aging energy infrastructure.
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