Pipe carrying boiling water bursts in Russia, leaving dozens of homes without heating and injuring 13 people

In Novosibirsk, a city in Siberia, a pipe carrying boiling water burst, reports the Telegram channel Siberian Express. Around 70 homes, a hospital, and an ambulance station were left without heating. This was the second such incident in Novosibirsk in the past week.

Eyewitnesses said that a cloud of boiling water erupted from the ground and reached the height of a seven-story building. The region’s health ministry said that 13 people received burns to the legs. Two people were hospitalized.

The Novosibirsk region’s governor Andrey Travnikov said the burst was likely a consequence of an incident on January 11, when a technical failure in the city’s central heating system resulted in dozens of buildings losing heat, ultimately increasing the load on pipelines.

The Siberian Generating Company (SGK), which is responsible for supplying heat to houses, said that there was a “defect” in the pipeline. The company added that the pipeline was laid in 1963 and underwent major repairs in 1990.

Novosibirsk’s city hall first reported that 200 houses were located “in the area where the heat is disconnected.” Later, the SGK specified that 69 residential houses, two kindergartens, a school, a tuberculosis hospital, and an ambulance station, all lost heating.