Explosion rips through gas pipeline in Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — An explosion on a section of Europe-bound natural gas pipeline in western Russia has killed three people but hasn’t affected export supplies, officials said. The explosion ripped through a section of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhhorod pipeline in the Chuvashia region during repair works on Tuesday. Regional authorities said that three repair workers were killed and one was injured by the explosion that sent a huge plume of burning gas high into the air. The regional branch of Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant said that volumes of gas transit weren’t affected by the blast as supplies have continued on parallel links.