SOFIA: Explosions and a fire erupted at an ammunition storage site in Bulgaria, police said on Saturday, weeks after a blaze at another munitions facility in the country.
The latest incident happened late Friday at a warehouse operated by Bulgarian arms maker EMCO, whose munitions are used in Ukraine, near the central village of Gorni Varpishta. No casualties were reported and workers were evacuated from the site.
Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said the blaze broke out in one warehouse at the facility, triggering explosions, but added there was no danger of it spreading. ‘All hypotheses are on the table and we are examining them carefully,’ he said, adding the warehouse, which contained munition rounds and other explosive materials, had shortcomings including poor security.
The incident came about a month after a fire at an ammunition depot at a nearby EMCO site. But the arms maker said the warehouse involved in Friday’s incident had been inspected regularly by the authorities and was not in breach of any rules. Security outside ammunition depots was the responsibility of the state, and similar recent incidents had been caused by ‘external forces’, the company said in a statement.
There was no chance human error could have been behind it, EMCO added. It accused the authorities of failing to do enough to tackle the spate of ‘sabotage’ against defence facilities in Bulgaria, a Nato member and supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
‘The negligent attitude of state representatives towards these acts of sabotage encourages perpetrators... allowing them to continue with impunity,’ it said.
President Iliana Iotova said she was considering convening Bulgaria’s national security council, a presidential advisory body that brings together senior political, security and defence officials.-AFP