Firefighters killed as fuel tanks explode

The blaze at the Kiev fuel depot could be seen from miles away, with residents watch the blaze from a distance while 62 firefightingappliances fought the fire. Photo / AFP

A powerful explosion killed a number of firefighters yesterday as they fought to control a blazing fuel depot which had burned through the night outside the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

At least nine tanks storing mainly petrol at the depot in Vasylkiv, 30km from Kiev, were on fire sending a huge pall of smoke over the surrounding area.

Videos posted online showed the force of the explosion and the heatwave it produced, setting alight several fire trucks that were rushed to the scene.

"Everything is on fire," a voice in one of the videos posted on YouTube said.

"An explosion at a fuel depot near Vasylkiv," Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Twitter, referring to a town outside of Kiev.

"Gigantic. Firemen have died," he said, adding that six more were taken to hospital with burns.

A huge operation was in action involving 62 firefighting units and three trains which had delivered equipment and water supplies to the area, emergency services said.

Police said the fire, which began in one fuel tank and spread to others, was likely to have been started by a technical fault but the cause was not yet fully clear.