Dozens of people were killed on Aug. 14 by an explosion and subsequent fire in the city of Makhachkala in Russia’s southern Dagestan region, according to Russian authorities.
“Five more bodies were found while debris was being removed, bringing the total death toll to 35,” Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said in an Aug. 15 statement.
“Rescue work continues,” the ministry added, going on to assert that at least 80 people had been injured by the blast and subsequent fire.
According to local authorities, a large fire caused by the initial explosion has since been extinguished by firefighters and emergency personnel.
Dagestan Governor Sergey Mekilov said at least three children had been killed in the blast and resultant conflagration.
Casualty tolls are expected to rise further as more bodies are pulled from the rubble.
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The blast, the cause of which remains unclear, reportedly occurred near a gas station on the Astrakhan-Makhachkala highway on the city’s outskirts.
Located roughly 1,000 miles from Moscow, Makhachkala is the capital of the Republic of Dagestan, the southernmost region of the Russian Federation.
Landing craft of the Russian Navy's Caspian Flotilla are pictured on the Don River during the inter-fleet move from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea, on the outskirts of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Apr. 12, 2021. Sergey Pivovarov/Reuters
Dagestan is located west of the Caspian Sea in the northern Caucasus region.
According to Russian media reports, the Emergencies Ministry has launched a criminal investigation to determine the cause of the deadly explosion.
“The causes and nature of the explosion are being determined,” Mr. Melikov told reporters at the scene of the blast.
He added that fuel tanks located next to the gas station appear to have exploded, setting the gas station and adjacent buildings ablaze.
“Emergency services are still at work,” the governor said. “The evacuation [of victims] to medical facilities is almost complete.”
Addressing local residents, Mr. Melikov added: “The situation is under control.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced condolences to victims’ families, while local authorities in Dagestan have declared a national day of mourning.
A view shows smoke rising following an alleged drone attack in Sevastopol, Crimea, April 29, 2023. Stringer/Reuters
The cause of the blast in Makhachkala remains unclear and may prove to have been the result of human error.
Nevertheless, the incident follows a spate of recent drone attacks on several regions of Russia.
These have been especially acute in the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow effectively invaded and annexed in 2014.
On Aug. 12, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that 20 incoming drones had been downed over Crimea by air defenses and electronic jamming systems.
The strategic peninsula abounds with potential military targets. These include the port of Sevastopol, home to Russia’s formidable Black Sea Fleet.
On July 24, an ammunition depot was set ablaze in Crimea’s Dzhankoi region after a reported attack by 17 aerial drones. One week later, the Defense Ministry reported a similar attack involving a total of 25 drones.
The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that it “does not encourage or enable attacks inside Russia.”
When it comes to attacks on Crimea, however, Washington qualifies this assertion, stating: “Crimea is part of Ukraine, not Russia.”
A specialist inspects the damaged facade of a multi-story apartment building after a reported drone attack in Moscow on May 30, 2023. Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images
Regions of Russia that border Ukraine, especially Belgorod and Kursk, have also been subject to frequent drone attacks in recent days and weeks.
On Aug. 14, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that several aerial drones had been intercepted and downed—without causing damage—in Belgorod.
A day earlier, Belgorod’s regional governor claimed two drones were brought down in the Graivoronsky and Belgorodsky districts, one of which injured a 10-year-old girl.
On the same day, an incoming drone was reportedly downed in the Kursk region.
The Epoch Times was unable to independently verify the reports.
Nor has the Russian capital itself been immune from sporadic drone attacks.
Late last month, a financial district in central Moscow was targeted by drones twice in three days, one of which struck a high-rise building.
Although the attacks failed to cause any deaths or injuries, Moscow described them as “acts of terrorism” by Ukraine.
Kyiv, for its part, in typical fashion, celebrated the attacks while declining to claim responsibility for them.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a top Ukrainian presidential adviser, said Russia should expect “more unidentified drones, more collapse, more civil conflicts, more war.”
On July 24, an aerial drone was downed in central Moscow not far from a Defense Ministry building, while a second struck a nearby office building.
Following that attack, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, warned: “No matter what happens, there will be more of this.”
As of the time of writing, officials in Kyiv had yet to comment on the unexplained blast in Dagestan.
Nor had there been any suggestion by Moscow that Ukraine was responsible for the incident.
