A gas explosion has caused a fire at the State Scientific Center for Virology and Biotechnology in Russia , known as 'Vector', where smallpox and ebola samples are stored. The authorities say there has been no leakage abroad.

As reported by the center itself, the explosion took place during repair work on the fifth floor of the building and left a person injured with third-degree burns. The structure of the building, they say, has not been damaged. The fire spread through the ventilation ducts. According to government channel RT, the fire soon became a "serious incident" and the Emergency Ministry sent 13 trucks and 38 firefighters.

Russian authorities have assured that there was no sign of Ebola or smallpox in the room where the explosion took place and subsequent fire. Smallpox samples are found only in two places in the world: the Russian Vector and another high-security laboratory , the US CDC.

"On the 17th there was a gas explosion on the fifth floor of a 6-story reinforced concrete laboratory building, specifically in the sanitary inspection room , which was being repaired," explains a laboratory note. At the time of the explosion no experiment was performed: "One person was injured, but the structure of the building was not damaged."

Vector is the only place in Russia where samples of Ebola and other viruses such as smallpox are stored. It is located in Koltsovo, in the Novosibirsk region, Siberia.

Smallpox, which was declared eradicated in 1980, killed up to 500 million people in the twentieth century . Ebola is a health emergency in countries like Congo.

Vector housed biological weapons experiments during the Soviet era and currently functions as the main one. Founded in 1975, the center was expanded several times to employ thousands of researchers . Today it occupies tens of hectares, and in recent years better security measures have been applied.

The event has been picked up by the Russian and foreign press after a summer rich in incidents, some unclear. It took the Russian authorities last month to disclose information about an explosion at a military test site that caused an increase in radiation levels in the Arjangelsk region . The explosion occurred when a liquid fuel rocket that carried nuclear materials exploded, killing at least five people.

Last Monday's incident is not the first in the Vector laboratory. In 2004 a researcher, Antonina Presnyakova, died in the complex after accidentally pricking herself with a needle that carried the Ebola virus.

Russian media claimed that it was the only death from this virus in the history of Russia. If the incident had been notified long enough, the doctors could have saved his life, he denounced 'The New York Times'.

The Vector Institute suffered from lack of funds in the 1990s . This raised fears that researchers could sell their knowledge or biological samples to governments such as Iraq and North Korea. Nothing has ever been tested in that regard.

Biological weapons

In 1992, Dr. Kanatjan Alibekov left the research program and moved to the United States. From there he has denounced that the Soviet government developed and stored biological weapons in facilities in Kirov and Sergiev Posad, and that it produced Anthrax in Yekaterinburg.

According to his version, in the eighties the Soviet government began taking samples from Moscow, where they were initially, to the Siberian laboratory Vector "to be able to do experiments". "Nobody worried about what would happen to Russian citizens, because this weapon should be used only in case of a total war," he said in an interview broadcast by the 'Frontline' media. According to his account, smallpox had been transferred to the Vector Institute to conduct biological weapons research.

Vector is considered one of the world's leading epidemiological research centers and was responsible for developing a vaccine against Ebola this year . The drug was presented as a tool to eliminate the risks of contagion among doctors. In addition, the vaccine can be used repeatedly, and it is distinguished from other analogs for greater efficiency and versatility of use.

"If it is necessary to produce it on a larger scale , a special production will be organized, but so far what Vector manufactures is enough," the center director, Nikolai Krasnikov, told the Sputnik agency in February this year. The laboratory also provided training on how to respond to a possible terrorist attack in the 2000s.

According to the newspaper 'The Guardian', in 2006 a stash of weapons was found near the facility, which included grenade launchers belonging to a mob group

The other smallpox depot in the world, the CDC, in Atlanta, has also faced serious doubts about its security processes and infrastructure after several insulation failures.

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