At about 17 o'clock local time on the evening of January 13, a natural gas pipeline explosion occurred near a village in the northern Lithuanian city of Paswallis. According to Lithuania's National Radio and Television (LRT) and Reuters, an open fire up to 50 meters high appeared at the scene of the accident, and no casualties have been reported. Upon preliminary assessment, there is no evidence that the accident was caused by the attack.
Lithuanian gas transmission operator issued a statement
On the evening of the 13th, Lithuanian gas transmission operator Amber Grid said in a statement that the explosion occurred far away from residential buildings. The fire brigade immediately arrived at the scene and the fire was extinguished about 4 hours later. So far, there have been no casualties.
The statement said that the gas transmission system at the site of the incident consisted of two parallel gas pipelines leading to Latvia. The accident occurred in one of the pipelines, while the other pipeline was not damaged and continued to supply gas to consumers. The staff has immediately cut off the gas supply to the damaged pipeline, and all the residual gas in the pipeline has been burned out.
The location of the accident is located in northern Lithuania, pictured from Sky News
In the evening, gas supplies from Lithuania to Latvia were restored.
Amber Grid CEO Nemunas Biknius said in a statement that the damaged pipeline is expected to recover within days, that "law enforcement and company experts are investigating the possible cause of the incident," and "so far, we have no information about third parties deliberately damaging the pipeline infrastructure."
According to LRT, the explosion occurred near a village in the northern Lithuanian city of Paswallis. About 500 to 700 meters from the gas pipeline in the neighboring village, about 250 people in the village have been evacuated. The accident did not result in casualties or property damage.
An open flame up to 50 meters high appeared at the scene of the accident, pictured from LRT
According to the video released by LRT, at one point an open flame up to 50 meters high appeared at the scene of the accident, and the flames were "sprayed into the sky".
In addition, Amber Grid's CEO told Sky News that the company is investigating the cause of the accident and "at this time we do not have any evidence that the accident may have been intentional." Sky News reported that Latvian Energy Minister Raimonds Cudars had been informed that the explosion was caused by a technical accident.
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