Polymer plant explodes in southern Russia, drone attack excluded

One person suffered burns and five others received injuries of various degrees of severity as a result of the explosion of a polymer plant in Russia's Rostov region, Governor Vasily Golubev said.

"One [victim] received medical care on the spot, 3 people had burns, 5 others — varying degrees of injuries,” the head of the region said on Telegram.

The fire at the plant was localised to an area of 360 square meters and then extinguished.

The explosion at Avangard Polymer Plant in the town of Shakhty, the Rostov region, occurred on Wednesday, January 17. At first it was believed that it was a Ukrainian drone that struck the plant, but such information did not receive any confirmation.

The Russian Defence Minister also excluded the version of a drone attack and said that air defence systems had not been activated in the region.

According to most recent reports, the explosion occurred due to a short circuit in the workshop for the production of fillings for mattresses and pillows.

Avangard Polymer Plant in Shakhty is Russia's first such enterprise. This is a new plant that opened less than a year ago, in June 2023.

As of December 15, the plant had 45 investment projects worth 460.7 billion rubles. Governor Vasily Golubev then said that the plant would create more than 36,000 additional jobs in the region.