UPDATE 2: Oil deposit in West Siberia catches fire, 8 people hurt

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KHANTY-MANSIYSK, Aug 11 (PRIME) -- An oil deposit in Russia’s Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District caught fire at midnight, local time, hurting eight people, a spokesperson for Nizhnevartovsk Oil and Gas Producing Company, part of oil major Rosneft, told PRIME on Friday.

“A fire outbreak of the oil and gas mix and of the drilling equipment occurred at a well of the Van-Yeganskoye deposit during operations of contractor Integra-Bureniye. Eight workers of the contractor had burns of varying degrees,” the person said.

The Energy Ministry said later in a statement that an oil derrick fell at the deposit and the fire was spreading to nearby wells.

A representative of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District directorate of the Investigative Committee told PRIME that the authority has launched a criminal case as a person or entity responsible for the site failed to comply with job safety measures.

Currently, representatives of the regional Prosecutors’ Office, of the Interior Ministry, and of the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological, and Nuclear Supervision are also investigating on the site of the accident.

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