World

Major Gaspipe Blast in City of Moscow on Post-Victory Day

by sara star | May 10, 2009 at 08:31 am

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A blast occurred in Moscow at 1230am and by the afternoon was completely extinguished. Foul play is not suspected.

These fires are common due to aging infrastructure. This is not only happening in Russia, but worldwide, where once new structures stood in pride, have now started to erode under little maintenance. This lack of long term planning, and dwindling resources will spell disaster if the future, for everyone. Watch for more stories like these to increase on a global level.

Moscow on Sunday suffered its worst fire in decades when a gas pipeline blast sent flames bursting into the sky and raised new concerns about the security of Russia's ageing energy infrastructure. The fire produced spectacular plumes of yellow flames reaching 200 metres (600 feet) high and huge clouds billowing smoke were visible against the night sky, television pictures showed.
Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who rushed to the scene, said that five people had been injured in the fire, including one man who received 35-percent burns, but there had been no fatalities.

The cause of the fire was almost certainly technical in nature, he added, virtually ruling out the possibility of foul play.

"In my opinion, 99 percent sure, this was a technical catastrophe. This all still needs to be investigated," he said in comments on state television.

Such fires are frequent events throughout the former Soviet Union due to ageing pipeline infrastructure that has not been renewed in decades.
Blasts on long-distance gas pipelines in ex-Soviet Moldova and Turkmenistan in April both caused by technical mishaps severely disrupted gas supplies.