A fire broke out at an oil refinery in southern Russia on Friday, a day after authorities confirmed a drone attack, Russian state-run news agencies reported.
Agencies gave conflicting reports about the cause of Friday’s blaze at the oil refinery’s reservoir in the southern Krasnodar region’s Ilsky settlement.
“The fire was contained even before the arrival of emergency services… It reached 60 square metres (645 square feet),” the local emergency services were cited as saying by Interfax.
“The employees of the oil refinery were evacuated, there were no casualties,” Interfax said.
Russian state-run agency TASS, citing a source in the emergency services, said the fire was due to another drone attack.
State agency RIA Novosti cited another source in the emergency services, saying the fire broke out after fuel reignited from Thursday’s attack.
On Thursday, an attack by “an unidentified drone” caused a first fire at the same reservoir, TASS reported.
Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev had said the refinery fire had been localised to a 400-square-metre (4,300-square-foot) area and was quickly extinguished by emergency services.
The fire comes after a string of recent drone attacks announced by Russia, including what it said was an attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
