[kellyhound]

Fire trucks racing to scene set alight by force of explosion and subsequent heatwave, as Ukraine's interior minister says several killed.

Several Ukrainian firefighters were feared dead on Tuesday outside Kiev when a ferocious blast tore through a fuel depot, sparking a "gigantic" fire that spread to nearby buildings.

Videos posted online showed the force of the explosion and the heatwave it produced setting aflame several fire trucks that were rushed to the scene on Tuesday morning.

"Everything is on fire," a voice in one of the videos said.

"Everyone - leave. Whoever is still here - leave," one fireman said in a video.

Arsen Avakov, Ukraine's interior minister, said the initial explosion hit a fuel depot near the Vasylkiv village some 20 miles southwest of Kiev.

His later Twitter updates said several firemen intially presumed to have died had been pulled out alive from the flames.

A spokesman for Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry told AFP that it was aware of six people being injured.

Kiev has been suffering from a dry heat spell for more than a week. But there was no initial information about what might have caused the blast.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...medium=twitter

[gatagato]

Fire crews are trying to stop the blaze spreading to an adjacent depot, and at least 8 of the 16 tanks are said to have a capacity of 900 cubic metres of petrol:
Sounds like a suicide mission to me: firefighters are angels on earth.

[winvens]

Good God!

Incidents like these happen for two main reasons: A) safety violations and B) poor maintenance.

RIP, brave firefighters.

[gatagato]

The bodies of three firemen and two other people have been found so far; the owners of the depot (BRSM-Nafta) had said in a statement they believed the fire was the result of an arson attack, but authorities apparently ruled it out.

[matthew88]

Few more videos