Explosion at Yamal gas field causes fire

Emergency services responded to an explosion at a gas field in the Yamal Peninsula following an accident during drill works.

A total of 12 firefighters were called to the scene at Bovanenkovo on Sunday morning after an operation to dig a well accidentally breached gas reserves.

It happened as workers were taking part in an exercise to lay specialist equipment 100 metres below the ground. Fortunately no-one was injured in the incident, which sent flames shooting 15 metres into the sky.

According to Gazprom Dobycha Nadym, a Gazprom subsidiary which controls work at Bovanenkovo, it was not a working well.

A statement said: 'During drilling of a well for the installation of a deep anode bed, builders came across a shallow gas lens. There was a gas explosion.

'This incident has no relation to the process of gas extraction, or exploration.'

The fire was extinguished by the evening and now the drilling rig is in the process of being cooled down.

It is not the first accident on the Yamal gas fields. In January this year, a fire broke out in the Severo-Gubkinskoye field, with a special military group brought in to help fight the blaze.