Ammo train explodes, sets off Siberia wildfire
July 26th, 2012 - 8:44 am ICT by IANSMoscow, July 25 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A series of explosions on a military train, carrying ammunition, triggered a wildfire in central Siberia Wednesday.
The incident occurred when a train car carrying scrapped 30-mm artillery shells caught fire, detonating the ammunition and sending fragments flying up to 200 metres, threatening a nearby town in the Novosibirsk region.
The train car — one of 72 — was completely incinerated, setting ablaze the dry vegetation across a vast hard-to-access area.
The Defence Ministry provided six helicopters to dump water on the blaze, which threatened to wipe out Tikhomirovo town.
An unspecified number of residents had to be evacuated from their homes.
The fire could not extinguished completely and high winds could cause it to flare up again, said an Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman for the Novosibirsk region Wednesday.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
sd
- Eleven wildfires put out in Russia's Far East - Aug 06, 2012
- Three kids die in Siberian building collapse - Sep 14, 2012
- Over 100 patients survive roof collapse in Siberia - Jan 30, 2011
- Russia's Siberia region hit by wildfires - Jul 30, 2012
- Russia reports 180 wildfires in a day - Jun 13, 2011
- Plane makes emergency landing in Russia - Jul 04, 2011
- Family rescued after five days in Siberian woods - Aug 02, 2012
- Man escapes as satellite piece crashes through roof - Dec 25, 2011
- Russia's space industry in crisis: Official - Dec 24, 2011
- Wildfires ravage Russian villages - Apr 21, 2012
- 40,000 Russian firefighters to lose jobs - Jul 10, 2012
- Russian warships hold drills in Mediterranean - Aug 11, 2012
- Afghan engineers training in Russia: NATO - Apr 20, 2012
- Russia to train soldiers for missile systems - Jan 18, 2012
- 12 die in Moscow fire - Apr 03, 2012
Tags: ammo, ammunition, artillery shells, car one, central siberia, defence ministry, dry vegetation, emergency situations, flare, helicopters, high winds, military train, ministry spokesman, nearby town, novosibirsk region, ria novosti, series of explosions, siberia, train car, wildfire