A massive fireball rose into the Russian sky Saturday after a natural gas pipeline exploded.
The explosion took place in Vsevolozhsk, which is east of St. Petersburg, according to the New York Post. St. Petersburg is Russia’s second-largest city.
Gov. Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the Leningrad Region, offered an explanation for the explosion.
“Firefighters and rescuers extinguish a fire caused by a gas pipeline depressurization between Berngardovka and Kovalevo,” he said on Telegram, according to Fox News.
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BREAKING: Powerful explosion near St. Petersburg, Russia. According to initial reports incident occurred on section of a gas pipeline
pic.twitter.com/lWBHMHUxLq— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) November 19, 2022
He did not reveal what the initial cause was of the depressurization.
Drozdenko said that the gas was allowed to burn off.
Workers “are getting ready to start repairing the gas pipeline,” he said.
Although the pipeline is surrounded by forests, Drozdenko said those areas were unlikely to burn.
Drozdenko said the nearby Vsevolozhsk thermal power plant would ensure that residents had heat.
No casualties were reported, he said.
“There is no threat to the population and the spread of fire to residential areas,” Russian media outlet RIA reported.
? Explosion hits gas pipeline in #Russia.
Gas pipeline explosion in Russia’s northwestern Leningrad Oblast causes fire.
? @savunmaisleri pic.twitter.com/7HfGiHjodL— Mete Sohtaoğlu (@metesohtaoglu) November 19, 2022
The Sun quoted a man named Andrei who told a new outlet he was inside his home when the explosion took place.
“It hit so hard that the walls shook,” he said.
“And then there was such a sound as if you were standing at an airfield and a supersonic plane was flying over you,” he continued.
“Our house shook. We thought it was a bomb and the war had come here,” The Sun quoted another resident it did not name as saying.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.