Two dead, 45 hurt in blasts at Russian arms depot
June 3rd, 2011 - 4:20 pm ICT by IANSMoscow, June 3 (IANS) Two people were killed and 45 others were injured in explosions at an artillery arsenal depot in Russia’s Volga region republic of Udmurtia, RIA Novosti quoted a minister as saying.
The republic’s health minister, Vladimir Muzlov, said both the dead were elderly and died from heart attacks caused by stress from the explosions.
The defence ministry has reported one person was missing in the accident, but declined to say whether the individual was a civilian or a military serviceman.
Around 11.10 p.m. Thursday shells began to explode in an artillery depot near the village of Pugachevo in Udmurtia. The facility belongs to the defence ministry’s missile and artillery directorate and is tasked mainly with munitions disposal.
A batch of seven aircraft from the emergencies ministry arrived at the scene from Moscow to deal with the blaze and explosions.
According to the Russian presidential press service, some 13,500 people were evacuated from the nearby residential areas, while the regional emergencies department says 28,000 people were evacuated.
A senior Russian military official confirmed that missile warheads are stored at the artillery arsenal, but added that there is no threat of them exploding.
“The missile warheads did not explode. They are kept in a concrete storage unit with 70-cm thick walls,” Deputy Defence Minister Dmitry Bulgakov said.
A police source said earlier that rockets for the Grad multiple rocket launching systems started to explode in underground storage facilities Friday morning.
Eyewitnesses said fragments of the detonating shells were spotted within a two-km zone.
The blast-hit facility stores from 5,000 to 10,000 railway carriages with various ammunition. It is believed 18 storage facilities are on fire.
The accident forced the emergencies ministry to temporarily close the Yelabuga-Izhevsk zone of the M7 federal highway, connecting Moscow and Ufa, the capital of the Urals republic of Bashkortostan. The nearby railway link was also closed.
Udmurtia borders the republic of Bashkortostan, where 50 houses burned to the ground, and 160 people were left homeless as a result of powerful explosions at another ammunition depot last week.
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Tags: bulgakov, defence ministry, deputy defence minister, eyewitnesses, health minister, heart attacks, km zone, launching systems, military official, missile warheads, police source, railway carriages, ria novosti, russian arms, serviceman, storage unit, thick walls, udmurtia, underground storage facilities, volga region