RUSSIA, 19 NOVEMBER, 2022 (GPN): The regional government said a gas pipeline exploded outside Saint Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday causing a large fire.

Huge flames could be seen from miles around.According to the Russian Emergency Ministry, the explosion was caused by a pipeline failure and no one was hurt.

The pressure on the main gas pipeline has been reduced, and the nearby thermal power plant has been switched to fuel oil to ensure uninterrupted heat supply, Leningrad region Gov. Alexander Drozdenko wrote on Telegram.

Firefighters were working at the site of the fire.According to Drozdenko, there is no threat of the fire spreading to residential areas.

Gas industry Telegram channel Gaz Batyushka reported an anonymous expert source saying that “without external influence, an explosion is impossible”.

It said: “We agree…it is possible this was a terrorist attack.”

Emergency vehicles including ambulances were rushed to the scene, although the explosion was not close to residential areas.

Investigators and forensic specialists were also scrambled as they look to identify the cause of the blast.

One theory was that the explosion could be due to sabotage linked to the war in Ukraine.

Earlier Russia had targeted Ukraine’s vital energy supply lines in recent attacks which has been condemned around the world.

This week, a Swedish prosecutor said investigators had found traces of explosives at the site of the damaged Nord Stream gas pipelines, confirming sabotage had taken place.

Today’s blast caused disruption to the Severnaya Thermal Power Plant, which heats hundreds of thousands of homes at a time when temperatures are around minus 5C.

Local power supplies switched to using oil after the blast, to ensure domestic heating in the region, according to one report.

The plant provides electrical and thermal energy to factories, residential areas and public buildings in the northern part of the Vyborgsky and Kalininsky districts of St. Petersburg, as well as the settlements of Novoe Devyatkino and Murino, and the Vsevolozhsky district of the Leningrad region.

In total more than 800,000 people receive heat from the Severnaya plant.

One more local reported: “A gas pipe exploded in the forest.

“Our house shook, we thought it was a bomb, and the war, had come here.”

Local power supplies switched to using oil after the blast, to ensure domestic heating in the region, according to one report.

The plant provides electrical and thermal energy to factories, residential areas and public buildings in the northern part of the Vyborgsky and Kalininsky districts of St. Petersburg, as well as the settlements of Novoe Devyatkino and Murino, and the Vsevolozhsky district of the Leningrad region.

In total more than 800,000 people receive heat from the Severnaya plant.

Power officials were seeking alternative supplies at the power station near St Petersburg.