Canoe

MOSCOW (AP) -- An oil pipeline in Russia's restive Dagestan region burst on Wednesday, spilling oil into the Caspian Sea, emergency officials said.

A section of the Baku-Grozny pipeline near the town of Achisu, 2 miles from the Caspian Sea, began leaking at 2:25 a.m., said Irina Andriyanova, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Situations Ministry.

She said some of the spilled oil had reached the sea, but it was unclear how much. The leak was stopped at 9 a.m. and repairs and cleanup were underway, she said.

Andriyanova said she had no information on the cause of the leak, but Russian news reports said it was apparently caused by an explosion. NTV television said investigators believed it was a "diversionary act" -- presumably by rebels in neighboring Chechnya -- or an attempt to steal oil.

Russia's vast network of mostly Soviet-era pipelines suffer frequent small spills, and theft from pipelines is widespread in and around breakaway Chechnya.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), August 29, 2001