Six Chinese citizens were killed and another nine went missing as a result of a fire at a gas chemical complex in Russia’s Far East, in the Amur region, the plant said on Wednesday, UNN writes, citing Reuters.
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A total of seven people were killed and 152 injured, including 36 who were taken to hospitals, the plant said on Wednesday.
The fire, which broke out on Tuesday, was extinguished, they added.
An emergency medical aircraft arrived to transport the injured to other hospitals in Russia.
The complex, which positions itself as one of the world’s largest producers of polyethylene and polypropylene, is a joint project of the Russian company Sibur and the Chinese oil and gas company Sinopec. It has not yet begun operations and was preparing to launch production. Russia often relies on foreign labor, including workers from China, to build major industrial and infrastructure projects, the publication writes.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it was investigating the incident as a possible violation of industrial safety rules and was working to establish the cause of the fire.
The Amur Gas Chemical Complex is expected to produce 2.3 million metric tons of polyethylene and 400,000 tons of polypropylene annually.