An explosion of oil products and a release of burning oil occurred in the Kavkazsky district of the Krasnodar region "during the extinguishing process due to the depressurization of the burning tank," the regional operational headquarters reported.
"Three pieces of equipment were damaged, and two firefighters were injured. They were promptly given first aid on the spot and taken to the hospital with minor burns and smoke inhalation," the message said. The fire spread to another tank. Thus, two tanks are currently burning, along with the part of the burning oil products that were ejected beyond the tank boundaries by the explosion. The total fire area has increased to 10,000 square meters. 456 people are involved in the extinguishing efforts.
In residential areas near the fire site, an excess of the maximum permissible concentration of benzene and dimethylbenzene in the air was detected, the regional office of Rospotrebnadzor reported.
The fire at the oil depot began on the night of March 19, when debris from downed drones fell on it. The Ministry of Defense reported that Ukrainian forces struck the facility with three drones.
As ASTRA* wrote, there were 100,000 tons of oil products on the territory of the "Naftatrans" enterprise's oil depot in the village of Kavkazskaya — five tanks of 20,000 cubic meters each. As a result of the night attack by five drones, a pipeline between two of them was damaged. A few hours after the attack, one of the tanks caught fire. The oil depot is connected to a railway oil terminal and a connecting pipeline leading to the NPS-6 "Kropotkin," which is part of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium system. From there, oil is transported to Novorossiysk.
* Recognized as a "foreign agent" in Russia.