Emergency services, including over 500 people and special trains, have been battling a fire for the fifth consecutive day at an oil depot in Proletarsk, a town in Russia's Rostov Oblast, following a drone strike on Aug. 18, the Russian state-run media outlet TASS reported on Aug. 22.
The Rostov Oblast government told the media that as of the morning of Aug. 22, the number of injured firefighters had risen to 49. Fifteen were taken to the hospital. TASS reported that emergency services had managed to extinguish six out of 20 burning diesel fuel tanks.
As of Aug. 20, the area of the blaze was at 10,0000 square meters, local authorities told TASS.
Ukraine's General Staff later confirmed a strike on the Kavkaz plant, which stored oil and petroleum products for the Russian army.
The fire reportedly began after Russian air defense units repelled a drone, but debris hit an industrial warehouse at the oil depot, igniting a diesel fuel fire.
Proletarsk is located some 230 kilometers (142 miles) southeast of the regional capital of Rostov-on-Don and 340 kilometers (211 miles) from the border with the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast.
Martin Fornusek
