Fire at Amur Mining and Chemical Complex construction extinguished; seven killed

A fire at the construction site of the Amur Mining and Chemical Complex has been extinguished, authorities said, after the blaze killed seven people and left nine Chinese nationals unaccounted for.

The site is now undergoing a controlled burn-off of remaining process gases under expert supervision while an official investigation has been opened, the Telegram channel '112' reported.

Medical services treated a total of 152 people following the incident; 36 were hospitalized with injuries of varying severity, while the remaining 116 received care without the need for admission. A special Il-76 aircraft of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations arrived to transfer some of the hospitalized to federal medical facilities, and psychological support is being provided to the victims and their families.

Air quality monitoring and the suspected cause

Authorities are monitoring air quality near the Svobodny residential area. So far, no exceedances of maximum permitted concentrations of the monitored substances have been detected, and monitoring continues.

The fire broke out in an auxiliary process section of the pyrolysis unit, where materials are decomposed at high temperature in the absence of oxygen. The Telegram channel '112' said barrels of methanol exploded inside the complex, triggering the blaze. The cause remains unconfirmed, although some media have suggested sabotage.

The Amur complex is one of the world’s largest facilities under construction for the production of polyethylene and polypropylene. The project is a joint build by Russian 'Sibur' and Chinese 'Sinopec' with a total budget exceeding 10 billion dollars and an intended annual output capacity of 2.7 million tonnes. Production of the first polyethylene volumes was planned to begin in the third quarter of this year, with polypropylene slated for 2027.

Photo: press material from the event