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Russia
blast: Multiple explosions rock arsenal storing ‘13mln’ shells,
hundreds fight blaze
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZismREOuuk&feature=player_embedded
Large
explosions rock an ammunition depot in Russia’s Samara Region,
where over 13 million shells are stored. Over 500 firefighters are
combatting the blaze triggered by blasts, while dozens of residents
in nearby communities have sought medical help.
18 June, 2013
Multiple
artillery shells keep exploding at an ammunition depot near the city
of Chapaevsk, a local police spokesman told RIA.
“It
is still not possible to halt the self-destruction, or to enter the
firing grounds,”
he added, saying that the shell shards are scattering in such a large
area that there is no way the fire brigade could reach and extinguish
the fire.
According to the Chief Directorate of the Interior Ministry for Samara Region spokesman Sergey Goldstein, there are “13 million shell units” at the ammunition depot, Interfax reports.
Police
have cordoned off the area. At least 6,000 people from the nearby
community have been evacuated to safety, Russia's Emergencies
Ministry said in a statement.
11
people have been hospitalized as a result of the blasts, a source in
emergency response team told RIA.
Earlier
reports said that 34 people have sought medical attention in
connection with the incident in Chapaevsk, according to Russian
Health Ministry spokesman Oleg Salagay.
Local
authorities are warning the residents of Chapaevsk not to enter the
area of the blasts, and have sealed off the roads leading to the
arsenal. There are some 74,000 people living in Chapaevsk just 15
kilometers from the area of the incident.
The
Russia’s Ministry of Emergencies is sending two planes with
robot-equipped bomb-disposal experts to Chapaevsk, reports Itar-Tass.
“Chapaevsk
is covered by smoke. The shells are exploding at a military depot in
Nagorny community. The federal highway has been blocked,”
the city resident @andygoalkeeper posts on Twitter.
#Чапаевск в дыму. Взрываются снаряды на военном складе в поселке #Нагорный. Федеральная трасса перекрыта. pic.twitter.com/tRULORPGPr
‘Fire
could last for 3 days’
More
than 500 firefighters with 100 units of equipment are fighting the
blaze at the site of the incident, Ministry of Emergencies said.
Their numbers are building up, it added.
Meanwhile,
officials say that the fire and the blasts could last for up to three
days.
“The
munitions, which are piled in stacks, keep exploding. According to
experts’ estimates, the fire at the shooting ground could last for
2-3 days,”
a law enforcement source told RIA.
Aleksey
Kochkin of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has confirmed
that the blaze could endure for up to three days “in
a worst case scenario,”
citing similar emergencies.
Image
from vk.com/typical_chapaevsk
Ammunition
depot explosions are not a rare occurrence in the Russian Federation.
Over the last three years, more than a dozen explosions have shocked
the nation taking the lives of both civilians and military personnel.
The
tragic highlights include July 2010 in the Altai region where 6
people died from explosions including 4 civilians. In April 2011, an
explosion at a military warehouse claimed the lives of four civilians
employed by the Defense Ministry. In the Russian Udmurt region, a
blast in June 2011 killed 7 soldiers and wounded more than 100
people.
Last
year alone ten incidents have lit up the skies. The most tragic ones
include an explosion in May 2012 in which 6 people died and four were
injured. The accident in the Nizhny Novgorod region was followed by
an explosion, two weeks lateer in the Far East in which two people
died. In September, while dismantling the ammunition, an explosion
claimed the life of one soldier in the Orenburg region.
