Blast at Baku Gas Pipeline

An explosion occurred at a gas pipeline near Azerbaijan's capital Baku early on Monday, the country's emergencies ministry said, the second such incident in a week. The explosion hit the Baku-Alyat pipeline at around 7:00 am local time, causing a fire that the ministry said had been contained, Reuters reported. It gave no reason for the accident and there were no reports of casualties. “A large number of equipment and fire crews were dispatched to the scene of the incident,” the ministry said in a statement. The gas supply through the main gas pipeline of 1000 mm diameter has been suspended and fire-fighters completely put out the fire, the ministry added. Last week, the same section of the pipeline was hit by explosion that led to a fire but the reason for the incident was unknown.