GAS PIPE LINE BREAKS IN SMOLENSK REGION








MOSCOW, March 13, 2001. /RIA Novosti correspondent/. The RF Emergencies Ministry has reported that on the night of Tuesday the main gas pipe line Torzhok-Minsk-Ivantsevichi broke near the village of Dudkino in the Smolensk Region, Central Russia. The gas caught fire and ten minutes later the broken sector was blocked. A few hours later the gas stopped burning. There were no victims in this accident.


	One of the four runs of the gas pipe line, 1,200 mm in diameter and of a 55-atmosphere pressure, broke down. However, the gas is delivered to consumers through the other runs.


	Repair brigades are working on the scene.


	Supposedly, the failure was caused by subsidence of soil as the snow was melting.