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ST PETERSBURG - A huge explosion and fire hit a major gas pipeline in northwest Russia early today but there were no reports of casualties and it was unclear if exports were disrupted, officials and witnesses said.
"It is an explosion on a trunk gas pipeline under high pressure," said Valentin Sedorin, a spokesman for the Leningrad region around Russia's second city of St Petersburg.
Witnesses spoke of a massive explosion that shook buildings 5km from the epicentre and caused traffic jams as people jumped in cars and fled the area.
Emergency officials were unable to say what caused the explosion, or if the pipeline carried gas for export.
The main route for Russian gas to Europe, the Yamal-Europe pipeline, is well to the south of the site of the blast. But a pipeline shipping gas to Finland is near the area.
A Reuters reporter at the scene said the air was thick with smoke, making breathing difficult. He said roads were clogged with vehicles heading away from the fire, while hundreds of people were leaving the scene on foot.
The explosion happened at a point where the pipeline ran close to a power station on the northern outskirts of St Petersburg.
Emergency services officials said windows at the power station had been blown out by the force of the blast. It had destroyed a 50-metre long section of the 80-cm diameter pipeline, they said.
"I live 5km (from the power station). My house shook and the residents ran out onto the street," said Andrei Alyabev, a local spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry.
Local administration spokesman Sedorin said the incident had been contained. "We do not have any reports of any casualties. We are not ordering an evacuation of homes in the vicinity. There is no danger to peoples' lives," he said.
An eyewitness who gave her name as Lena said the blast happened at about 12.15am (8.15am NZ time) and was followed by a large fire. "I am about 2km away and I can see flames," she said.
Another eyewitness, local official Valery Garkavy, was several kilometres away at the time of the explosion.
"I heard a loud whistle, then a very loud rumbling and an explosion. It was so strong that everyone's car alarms went off ... people immediately started running out of their houses."
- REUTERS
