MOSCOW (AP) — The death toll from last week's fire at an industrial plant in Russia’s Ryazan region has risen to 24, with at least another 157 people injured, officials said Monday.
The fire broke out Friday at the Elastik plant in Shilovsky district, around 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of Moscow. Emergency crews continued searching through debris, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said.
State news agency RIA Novosti has reported that a gunpowder workshop at the facility caught fire and triggered an explosion. Images released by officials show some of the building reduced to rubble.
Investigators are looking into the cause of the fire.
Local authorities declared Monday a day of mourning in Ryazan.
This was the second deadly incident at the Elastik plant in recent years. In October 2021, 17 people were killed in a blast at a workshop operated by explosives manufacturer Razryad, according to news agency Interfax.
This version removes the inaccurate description of Interfax as a state news agency.
In this photo, released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, Emergency Ministry employees clear debris at an industrial plant following Friday's fire at the facility in the Shilovsky District, Ryazan region, around 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of Moscow, Russia. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo, released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, Emergency Ministry employees clear debris at an industrial plant following Friday's fire at the facility in the Shilovsky District, Ryazan region, around 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of Moscow, Russia. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo, released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, Emergency Ministry employees clear debris at an industrial plant following Friday's fire at the facility in the Shilovsky District, Ryazan region, around 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of Moscow, Russia. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the Motor Tanker Veronica early Thursday. She said the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”
U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”
Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for moving cargoes of illicit Russian oil.
As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear that they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
