Explosion in Calimanesti: Gas main line would not have been at the correct depth (prefect)

The Prefect of Vrancea County, Nicusor Halici, said on Thursday, at the construction site of the A7 Motorway (Moldavia Motorway) in Calimanesti, where an explosion occurred at the gas main line during the night, that the depth at which the pipeline was located would not have been the appropriate, at least 1.8 meters.

"It is clearly a human error. The company knew that this main line existed, but it would not have been at the correct depth. (...) Yes, it is possible that the night factor also contributed to this incident. The criminal investigation bodies will establish this. It is serious, first of all, that four people died and five others were injured. (...) The company knew that this pipeline existed, and here it will have to be clarified that, as you could see (...) it doesn't seem quite the right depth for a main pipe line. It should be at a much greater depth. At least, from what I can see and from an estimate, it is up to one meter deep. Normally, specialists say that it had to be 1.80 meters from the level of the first layer of the motorway," said prefect Nicusor Halici.

In the night from Wednesday to Thursday, there was an explosion, followed by a fire, at a gas main line from Calimanesti. The fire was extinguished around 05:20.

Four people were found charred, and five others were injured, two men aged 61 and 53, who had burns on 65 and 40% of their bodies, respectively, were taken by helicopter and transferred to medical units in Bucharest. The victims were working on the construction site of the A7 Moldavia Motorway.

According to ISU Vrancea, the explosion at the gas main line in Calimanesti was caused by the execution of works on the construction site of the A7 Moldavia Motorway.