At least 35 people were killed in Russia when a gas station exploded on Monday night, officials said. The blast in Makhachkala, the capital of the southern Dagestan region, started with a fire at a nearby auto repair shop which then spread, according to state media reports. Russia’s Ministry of Health said in a statement reported by the TASS news agency that 62 victims of the disaster required inpatient treatment, including 16 children. A total of 115 were hurt, 35 of whom died, the ministry added, with earlier reports suggesting that three children were among the dead. It’s not yet clear how the fire started, though Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under a law concerning the provision “of services that do not meet the requirements of the safety of life or health of consumers, which negligently caused the death of two or more persons,” according to RIA Novosti. Tuesday has been declared a day of mourning in Dagestan. “It’s like a war here,” a witness told Reuters. Local media reported that one person injured in the blast was standing 50 meters away in a knife store at the time of the explosion, and knives rained down on him due to the force of the shock wave.
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