Industrial fire kills 3, including 2 Chinese citizens, in Russia’s far east

Three people, including two Chinese citizens, died in a fire on Tuesday at a petrochemical site in Russia’s far eastern Amur region, the company announced.

“The deaths of three people … two citizens of the People’s Republic of China and one Russian citizen, have unfortunately been confirmed,” Amur GKhK said in a statement.

According to the company, 24 people were also taken to hospital “with more or less serious injuries” while 122 others sustained “light injuries” without needing hospitalisation.

“Search and rescue operations are continuing at the site,” Amur GKhK said, adding that “emergency services are working to extinguish the main fire and carry out the controlled burning of residual industrial gas”.

The company specified that “the main installations of the complex were not damaged” as “the fire broke out in an auxiliary technical area of the facility”.