Massive blast rocks gas station in Russia’s Chechnya (VIDEO)

Four people, including two children have died in the incident, the emergency services have said

A gas station located in the center of the city of Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechen Republic, was destroyed in a powerful explosion on Friday. Four people died in the incident, according to the local emergency services.

The blast at the station located near the busy Muhammad Ali Avenue in Grozny was caught on numerous videos that surfaced on social media. The clips show the venue quickly catching fire, with a massive explosion rocking the area soon after that. A huge fireball can be seen rising above the nearby buildings with plumes of thick black smoke covering the sky.

Some videos also show a huge metallic fuel tank being thrown away while still on fire by a powerful imploding shockwave. The tank can then be seen smashing a car before hitting a nearby building. Some Russian Telegram channels reported that it also hit and killed a woman and two children walking nearby.

The local emergency services confirmed the deaths of four people in the incident, including two children aged four and six. The two adults that perished in the blast were a young woman aged 25 and a truck driver that was at the gas station at the time of the blast.

According to some Telegram channels the explosion took place as the truck was pumping gas to some of the station’s fuel tanks. According to the local authorities, the incident was caused by “safety violations during fuel transfer that caused [fuel] to catch fire.”

Five people also sustained injuries in the incident, the regional health ministry said. Those injured were treated on the spot and did not require hospitalization, the medics said. Some videos on social media showed a crowd of people running in panic and seeking shelter at the time of the blast.

Dozens of firefighters were deployed to the scene and were able to quickly tackle the blaze, according to the Russian media.

According to the RBK business news media outlet, the Russian authorities conducted a safety inspection at the gas station back in 2021 and found nine security breaches, including a lack of automatic control mechanisms and leak detectors.