Four dead, three missing after Siberian tanker fire

An explosion tore through the engine room of an oil tanker in north-eastern Siberia, killing four crew members, the Emergency Situations Ministry said this morning.

Three crew members were missing, and six others were hospitalised with burns following Thursday’s blast in the Russian village of Yuryung-Khaya in Yakutia, about 3,000 miles east of Moscow, said ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov.

The explosion occurred as the tanker, moored in the Anabar River, was unloading oil. There was no information about the cause of the blast.