Ankara: The death toll from a fire that erupted at the Amur Gas Chemical Complex in Russia's Far East has risen to seven, as confirmed by the company on Wednesday. The fire, which broke out at a construction site near the Russian-Chinese border, has been extinguished, and specialists are currently overseeing the burning of residual industrial gases, according to a statement from the company on Telegram.

According to Anadolu Agency, the bodies of four Chinese workers have been recovered during search and rescue operations. The statement confirmed a total of seven fatalities, including one Russian citizen and six Chinese citizens. The fate of nine additional Chinese citizens remains unknown, and search and rescue operations are ongoing. A total of 152 people have sought medical attention, with 36 of them hospitalized due to injuries of varying severity.

A special flight from the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry arrived to transport some of the injured to medical facilities. Specialists continue to monitor the air quality at the boundary of the nearby town of Svobodny, reporting no exceedances of maximum permissible concentrations of controlled substances.

The company indicated that preliminary information suggests the fire originated in an auxiliary process section of the facility's pyrolysis unit. Russia's Investigative Committee is investigating the incident on suspicion of a "violation of safety requirements" and is working to determine its exact cause.

The Amur Gas Chemical Complex, a joint project between Russian petrochemicals company SIBUR and Chinese oil and gas enterprise Sinopec, brands itself as one of the world's largest enterprises for the production of polyethylene and polypropylene. The facility has yet to commence production.