MOSCOW -- Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry says several dozen railcars carrying gas have derailed and caught fire northeast of Moscow, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of local resident.
The ministry said that the accident occurred Wednesday at a railway station in the city of Kirov, about 800 kilometres northeast of Moscow, when 32 cars loaded with gas condensate derailed and caught fire. It said no one was hurt.
The ministry says the massive fire engulfed a large area around the station, forcing the evacuation of about 700 residents of several nearby apartment buildings.
Several hundred emergency workers were involved in efforts to extinguish the blaze, which has cut the traffic on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
