In Romania, evacuees can return — the Ukrainian LNG tanker burned out

Evacuees from the Romanian villages of Chatalkioja and The planned residents can return home after extinguishing a fire on a Ukrainian ship carrying liquefied gas. Today, on November 18, the emergency response services of Tulcha county announced that from 14:00 local time (15:00 Moscow time) the danger of an explosion of a gas carrier has passed.

"Based on the results of the exchange of information and data regarding a fire on a vessel carrying LPG moored in the port of Izmail, Ukraine, we formulate the following clarifications: risk analysis, confirmed by official information transmitted by the Ukrainian authorities, indicates that the fire has been extinguished and the situation no longer poses a danger to the public," the report says.

Thus, from 14:00 the residents of the village of Plauru can return to their homes. In the morning, residents of the village of Chatalkioya, located further from the Ukrainian border, were the first to be allowed to leave the security zone.

"We emphasize that the evacuation measure for two settlements was prescribed to protect residents, as well as to prevent emergencies caused by a possible deterioration of the situation, the risk of which was significant at that time. The structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs express their gratitude to the residents for understanding the measures taken and cooperating with the central and local authorities," the Tulcha County Emergency Situations Inspectorate said.

Recall, on the night of November 17, the Orinda tanker with 4 thousand tons of liquefied gas standing off the Ukrainian coast in the port of the Danube was attacked by a UAV. A fire started on the ship. If an explosion had occurred, its impact would have been felt within a radius of 4.5−5 kilometers. 246 people were evacuated from Romanian villages bordering Ukraine. Romanian military personnel and air defense equipment were also withdrawn from the danger zone.

As EADaily reported, in the morning, the head of the Emergency Department of the Romanian Interior Ministry, Raed Arafat, after talking with the Ukrainian side, informed that the risk of a strong explosion had decreased, since the gas transported on it had almost completely burned out.