Huge flames as explosion hits gas pipeline in Lithuania

2023-01-13

Huge flames can be seen for miles as explosion hits gas pipeline connecting Latvia and Lithuania

The gas pipeline explosion happened near Lithuania’s Pasvalys district
Flames over 160ft rose over northern Lithuania after the gas pipeline explosion
The flames have since been put out but could be seen from 11 miles away

Huge flames have risen above northern Lithuania after a gas pipeline close to the Russian border exploded.

The gas pipeline connects Lithuania and Latvia and is around 170 miles (over 270km) from the Russian border.

The flames reportedly rose over 160ft (50 metres) in the air and could be seen from 11 miles (17 kilometres) away after the blast at around 5pm GMT (7pm local time) today.

The area of Pasvalys in northern Lithuania was evacuated, but the flames have since been put out.

There was no immediate evidence of an attack, Lithuania gas transmission operator Amber Grid said.

Huge flames have risen above northern Lithuania after a gas pipeline close to the Russian border exploded

The area of Pasvalys in northern Lithuania was evacuated, but the flames have since been put out

The flames have since been put out but video published by Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT showed a fire raging at the blast site in the Panevezys county in northern Lithuania.

‘According to the initial assessment, we do not see any malign cause, but the investigation will cover all possible options,’ Amber Grid Chief Executive Nemunas Biknius told a news conference.

The supply of gas was immediately cut off as emergency response teams acted to put the flames out.

The system at the site had two parallel pipelines, and although the supply to one had been interrupted, the other was operating normally and local consumers were still being supplied, according to the statement.

Lithuania is situated on the Baltic Sea where the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream gas pipelines were destroyed by explosions last year.

A gas pipeline in northern Lithuania has exploded with a village near Pasvalys evacuated, January 13, 2023

The supply of gas was immediately cut off as emergency response teams acted to put the flames out

In the September explosions, two holes were blown in the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting mainland Europe and Russia.

Western leaders stopped short of publicly blaming Russia for the attack, but privately briefed their suspicions that Moscow was behind it.

Since June 2022, Lithuania has banned the import of gas from Russia in a bid to reduce its energy dependence on its neighbour following the invasion of Ukraine.

Lithuania had previously been heavily dependent on Russian gas following its independence from the Soviet Union in 1990.

The country then brought into service a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Klaipeda, on the Baltic Sea.

Then, in 2022, it launched a pipeline linking the three Baltic states to the European gas network, via Poland.

Friday’s blast happened as Lithuania marked the anniversary of the day in 1991 when Soviet troops crossed the border in a failed bid to reoccupy it after the country had declared independence.

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