Black sky, rain and smoke everywhere – this is the Silent Hill-like scene at an oil and gas storage facility near Kiev, where a raging fire led to explosions. Local residents told RT that they fear for their health and ecology of their area.
READ MORE: Firefighters die combating massive
blaze at fuel storage facility near Kiev (VIDEO)
“The fire is big – all the sky is black, we have seen black
rain which lasted for 5-10 minutes,” a local girl, Alina,
told RT, adding that the village which is near the blaze area is
now being evacuated.
She added that the local residents were told “not to go out
and to shut all the doors and windows.”
READ MORE: Fire engine, ambulance ablaze at Ukraine oil depot
fire (VIDEO)
#катастрофа #горит #нефтебаза #васильков
A photo posted by Tina (@tinavahedparast) on Jun 9, 2015 at
2:17am PDT
“I see smoke. It’s not far
away. The smoke is dangerous and the air in the streets is
bad,” Elizaveta, a
local pensioner, told RT. Another pensioner, Aleksandra, also
confirmed that she saw smoke in the area.
Когда весь город с высоко поднятой головой
#украина #васильковA video posted by Katya Chernikova (@chernikova) on Jun 9, 2015
at 1:34am PDT
The scale of the disaster has prompted an evacuation, Ukrainian
environmentalist Vladimir Boreyko told RIA Novosti.
“The process is catastrophic,” he said. “People
should be evacuated at least in a radius of 5 kilometers due to
soot and toxic products from the fire. It’s a serious danger to
health and can cause lung problems and cancer.”
“Then there will be the second phase: acid rain destroying
crops in the fields and forests,” he added.
Горит нефтебаза в Василькове((( #васильков
#пожарA photo posted by Tanya Ivashkevich (@sauvignon_blanc) on Jun 9,
2015 at 1:26am PDT
The fire at the BRSM-Nafta facility some 20km southwest of Kiev,
the Ukrainian capital, started Monday night. At least one worker
was fatally burned in the initial fire. Five others were
hospitalized with serious burns.
A photo posted by Lidia (@lidia_chyzhevska) on Jun 9, 2015 at
12:54am PDT