MOSCOW (AP) — A massive explosion at a gas station in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan has killed 30 people and injured several others, Russian officials said Tuesday.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry reported on Tuesday that a total of 105 people had been injured, 30 of whom had died.
Dagestan’s governor, Sergei Melikov, said three of the dead were children.
The explosion occurred on the outskirts of the regional capital Makhachkala on Monday night. A fire at a car repair shop spread to a nearby gas station, sparking an explosion, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing the country’s Emergencies Ministry. A fire spread over 600 square meters (yards) in the aftermath.
Some of the injured will be flown to Moscow for treatment, the report said.
Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation.
The authorities of Dagestan said that the victims’ families will receive 1 million rubles (about $10,000) each, and the injured – 200,000-400,000 rubles (about $2,000-$4,000).
Tuesday has been declared a day of mourning in Dagestan.
Across Russia, in western Siberia, another explosion killed two people and injured five others on Monday night. An explosion occurred in the evening at an oil mine in the Khanty-Mansiysk region, local officials said.
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