effects have not been investigated.
Pipeline explosion leading to rail disaster, Siberia, Russia, 1989
The gas pipeline causing the explosion lay to the west of Chelyabinsk and was the main line carrying natural gas liquids a mixture of propane, butane and other components. The explosion occurred just as two trains carrying 1200 people were passing each other on the Trans-Siberian route close to the pipeline. It is thought that gas had leaked from the pipeline, accumulated in pools and started to evaporate; a spark from the wheels of one of the trains ignited it. Consequently, 645 people died in this disaster and about the same number were injured. The then Soviet prosecutors alleged that gross violations of construction and operations rules contributed to the accident. The pipeline had been damaged by an excavator in 1985 and the damage ignored; the pipe was buried and later leaked.