WATCH | Six Chinese nationals among seven killed in Russian gas plant fire

Six Chinese nationals were killed and nine are missing after a fire broke out at a gas chemical complex in Russia’s far eastern Amur region, the plant said on Wednesday.

An emergency services plane had arrived to transport the injured to other hospitals in Russia.

RUSSIA: A major explosion and fire severely damaged Russia’s Amur Gas Chemical Complex during precommissioning work, shortly before the massive facility was due to open. pic.twitter.com/4am2dcKuuf

The complex, which bills itself as one of the world’s largest polyethylene and polypropylene producers, is a joint project of Russian company Sibur and Chinese oil and gas company Sinopec. It has yet to begin operations and was preparing for production to start.

Russia frequently relies on foreign labour, including workers from China, for the construction of large industrial and infrastructure projects.

Russia’s investigative committee said it was investigating the incident as a potential breach of industrial safety regulations and was working to establish the cause of the fire.

The Amur gas chemical complex is expected to produce 2.3-million metric tons of polyethylene and 400,000 tons of polypropylene per year.