Global General

Arsenal fire in Russia's Ural injures 75, cause unknown

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-04 16:55

MOSCOW - Fire continued on Saturday at an ammunition depot in Russia's Udmurtia republic as the number of the injured in shell explosions caused by the fire rose to at least 75, local healthy ministry said on Saturday.

The fire-caused blasts, started late Thursday, had been shaking the arms depot and forced the evacuation of nearly 30,000 people.

According to local health ministry, 35 people sought medical help in local hospitals, among which 14 people suffered injuries of various degrees and 21 were in a state of shock.

Earlier reports said two had died from stress caused by the explosions.

So far, cause of the fire remained unknown. The republic's leader Alexander Volkov told Interfax news agency that the accident was probably caused by "human errors."

Russian Emergencies Situation Ministry said it has sent seven aircraft and some 800 rescuers to the scene to deal with the fires and explosions.

This is the second ammunition depot blasts accident in Russian in two weeks. Some 2,500 people have been evacuated on last Thursday from the town of Urman in Russian republic of Bashkortostan due to a fire at an ammunition depot.