MOSCOW, June 15, (RIA Novosti) - Two oil tanks exploded in the city of Noginsk outside Moscow on Wednesday morning, RIA Novosti was told at the Emergencies Ministry of Russia. The explosions took place at 6:02 a.m. and 6.09 a.m. Moscow time. Immediately after the explosions, rail tank cars caught fire on the approach lines. Andrei Barkovsky, press-secretary of the Moscow region governor, said that the blast killed two people, with one more person taken to an intensive care unit. Preliminary data indicate that the incident was caused by an explosion in the laboratory located on the territory of the oil tank farm, Barkovsky said.
A source in the Moscow region law enforcement agencies told RIA Novosti that according to preliminary information the tanks contain five thousand tons of fuel each.
As many as 196 people were evacuated from apartment blocks and a maternity home next to the site of the incident.
