VLADIVOSTOK. July 15 (Interfax-AVN) - Five groups of sappers got down to work at a Pacific ammunition depot 50 kilometers from Vladivostok where a series of massive explosions occurred on Sunday.
The Pacific Fleet's press service told Interfax that bomb disposal experts are looking for and collecting unexploded shells that scattered on nearby territory. Three groups are working in the Tayozhni village and on small croplands, while the fourth is at work on the arsenal's perimeter, and the fifth on the depot grounds.
A small-caliber ammunition storage facility exploded at the Tayozhni arsenal at 4:30 a.m. local time on Sunday. The navy, police, and the Emergency Situations Ministry acted promptly to minimize the effects and evacuated about 2,000 civilians. There were no casualties or property damage.
As a result of the blasts, the storage facility, where several trainloads of ammunition were kept, was totally destroyed. Shells were scattered more than 300 meters away.
The explosions left 27 people injured, seven of whom were hospitalized. Most of the victims are Vladivostok residents who were at their countryside cottages during the disaster. Some sustained cuts and bruises when a shock wave shattered windows in their homes. There were several cases of shell splinters hitting cars in which people were trying to escape.
According to paramilitary policemen and several eyewitnesses, one possible cause of the blast was fireworks or other pyrotechnics being fired from nearby cottages that got into the depot through its ventilation windows. Other causes of the explosions are not ruled out. The military prosecutor's office has opened a criminal case.
Sergei Darkin, governor of the Maritime territory, has given instructions to check all ammunition depots on the territory to make sure they do not become sources of fire.