State commission has 10 days to establish cause of gas pipeline explosion
Stefan Voda district and nine settlements of Causeni district, which have been affected by Sunday’s explosion on a gas pipeline, will be supplied with gas from Wednesday, November 11, officials of Moldovagaz announced at a meeting of the state commission for the elucidation of the cause of the explosion on Monday, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the Government’s press service.
The state commission was set up on Monday morning. It is headed by Minister of the Interior Victor Catan. The participants in the meeting were informed that 50 units of transport work to remove the consequences of the explosion.
Representatives of SA Moldovagaz said the cause of the explosion is not yet known. The gas ducts are checked every five years. The last time they were examined in 2005. The company that checked the pipeline then said the main was in a good state.
Prime Minister Vlad Filat asked Moldovagaz to thoroughly check all the gas pipes. “The explosion that happened on November 8 is the second in the last half a year. This is alarming and we must make effort to exclude similar cases in the future,” Filat said, demanding that the state commission present the results of the investigation within ten days.
The explosion occurred on the gas main Razdelinaia-Ismail, between Saiti and Opaci villages of Causeni district, at 4.35 on Sunday, November 8. It happened at a depth of 4 meters and caused a hole 12 meters in length and 4 meters in width. As a result, the gas supply to Stefan Voda district and nine settlements of Causeni district was disrupted.
The Razdelinaia-Ismail gas main transports natural gas to the Balkans via Moldova and supplies gas to Causeni and Stefan-Voda districts.