Firefighters tackle huge blaze at Russian firework factory

More than 400 personnel brought in to deal with blaze

Firefighters have dealt with a blaze at a fireworks factory in Russia with dramatic video footage showing explosions lighting up the night sky.

The blast in the port city of Rostov-on-Don, near Russia’s border with Ukraine, early on Sunday morning woke residents, with clips showing seemingly hundreds of fireworks exploding at random.

Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations posted footage of the fire on Instagram.

More than 400 firefighters were brought in to deal with the blaze along with fire engines and search and rescue equipment.

Officials described it as a “large” fire that had affected 4,000 square metres of land and property and said the size and complexity of the blaze meant it had been assigned the “highest difficulty grade” by emergency crews.

There was no information immediately available about possible victims and the cause of the fire is still being investigated.

There have been numerous fires at firework factories around the world in recent years, including a blaze in Indonesia in 2017 that left 30 dead. 

In 2014, two people died in a blaze at a fireworks factory in Stafford.

Footage showed thick plumes of smoke and bursts of fireworks exploding from the factory.

Staffordshire County Council said at the time that trading standards had registered the building to sell fireworks around the Bonfire and New Year periods.

Officers had carried out a routine inspection of the premises just days earlier which found the company had met all safety requirements for the storage of fireworks.