Russia oil depot blasts kill two

Firefighters managed to put out the fire after several hours

Two people have been killed by explosions at an oil storage facility near the Russian capital, Moscow.

At least one other person was seriously injured when the blast started a fire that spread to a number of tanks at the facility in the town of Noginsk.

Hundreds of nearby residents - including mothers and babies from a maternity hospital - were evacuated.

An investigation is now under way, with some reports suggesting a violation of safety regulations was to blame.

The explosions ripped through a chemical laboratory on the site at around 0550 (0150 GMT), Sergei Vlasov, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry, said.

Two tanks of petroleum products inside the lab caught fire and the blaze spread to four nearby railway cars containing oil products, he was quoted as saying.

With the fire threatening nearby homes and buildings, some 800 residents - including 194 mothers and 60 new born babies from the nearby hospital - had to be moved to safety.

More than 20 firefighting crews, along with a helicopter and specially-equipped firefighting train, tackled the blaze, which was contained by around 0930 (0530GMT).

Russia's Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu later announced the fire had been extinguished, saying: "There is no threat to the town or its population."

An investigation is now under way, with some unnamed officials blaming a technical problem for the blast at the site, which is around 60 km (35 miles) east of Moscow.

Earlier, Moscow regional police were quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying they thought workers had failed to follow the correct safety procedures while emptying a fuel tank.