A gas pipeline explosion triggered a massive fire in southwest Moscow early on Sunday, sending flames up to 200 meters into the air and setting two adjacent buildings ablaze.

Flames are seen on Bolshaya Ochakovskaya street after an explosion in Moscow May 10, 2009. A gas pipeline exploded in southwest Moscow early on Sunday, sending flames 100 metres into the air and setting buildings and cars ablaze.[Xinhua]

Xinhua correspondent saw the scene at 08:20 local time (0420 GMT) Sunday at the Michurin Street in southwest Moscow, 300 meters away from the fire spot on the Bolshaya Ochakovskaya Street.

Five people were injured in the fire which broke out at around 00:30 Moscow time (2030 GMT Saturday), said Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry. No fatalities have been reported so far.

The area was cordoned off. Uniformed personnel from Russia's Interior Ministry were maintaining order and policemen were directing the traffic.

A woman official from the ministry told Xinhua that all the valves of the ruptured pipeline had been shut down, and the gas was now burning out under lower pressure. The fire has been brought under control.

The two buildings affected by the blaze, including an office building and another under construction, were not occupied, she said.

Vadim Mikhaylov in light yellow fire-fighting suit said: "This is the most severe fire I've seen in Moscow in recent years. The flames at its peak reached 200 meters, but now are reduced to some 70 meters."

Flames are seen on Bolshaya Ochakovskaya street in Moscow May 10, 2009. A gas pipeline exploded in southwest Moscow early on Sunday, sending flames 100 metres into the air and setting buildings and cars ablaze.[Xinhua]

"No rescuers were injured in the fire, but even if in the heat-insulating suits, we cannot work for a long time. We have to take turns to fight the flames," said Mikhaylov, chief of an independent fire-fighting team "Digger rescue."

A resident on the Michurin Street named Valentyna said: "I heard a very loud blast last night. Then I saw fire. Soon the fire engines and police cars arrived."

Vitaly Tishkin, 27, rushed to the scene at about 01:00 Moscow time (2100 GMT Saturday) to rescue his mother who lives nearby.

He said: "At that time lots of people came into the street with panic. But now the situation is no longer a mess."

Investigation has already started, and terrorist attack has been ruled out as the cause of the incident. Media reports said the aging pipelines might be the cause of the explosion.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who arrived at the scene, said he believed the explosion was caused by technical problems.

"I am sure that it's a technical disaster by 99 percent," the Itar-Tass news agency quoted the mayor as saying.

Moscow's First Vice-Mayor Pyotr Biryukov said earlier that the fire was the largest in the past few decades, but he stressed that it caused no great damage.

Biryukov admitted that there had been a gas emission, but he said it posed no danger to the neighborhood.

(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2009)