The investigation into the explosions at the “EMKO“ ammunition plant continues. According to the Ministry of Interior, there were no deaths or injuries in the incident.
Due to the spread of the fire towards the village of Radoevi, the BG-ALERT system was activated. 300 workers were evacuated immediately.
According to the Minister of Interior Ivan Demerdzhiev, an entire warehouse at the plant burned down. Ammunition was stored there, but there was no evidence of external interference, Nova writes.
According to the minister, there was a vehicle at the scene, but it has not yet been confirmed that it started the fire. He added that the ammunition stored in the vehicle is of different types and nature.
The authorities ruled out external interference in the fire that broke out in an ammunition warehouse near the village of Belitsa and assured that there is no danger to the population. The fire broke out this morning, and later in the day the company "EMKO" OOD, owner of the warehouse, said that they ruled out human error.
The Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Demerdzhiev visited the scene of the incident, after which he repeated to journalists several times that there is no evidence of any type of external interference. In order to avoid any speculation, I repeat that there is no evidence of external interference of any nature. There is speculation, it is high time they stopped and worked with facts, said Demerdzhiev. Experts from the Directorate “Special Operations and Combating Terrorism“ at the Ministry of Interior are on site, and if necessary, military experts will join them. There will be a definitive conclusion as to the cause of the fire, the minister said.
Chief Commissioner Alexander Dzhartov, Director of the Main Directorate “Fire Safety and Population Protection“ at the Ministry of Interior, said that the fire in the Tryavna region is under control and there has been no active spread of the fire in the last few hours. He added that there is no data on dangerous concentrations of harmful substances in the air. The measurements taken are within the norm, the release of smoke is currently extremely weak and mainly from the forest area. According to Dzhartov, there is currently no need to evacuate people, but the institutions are on standby in case the situation changes.
Measures have been taken to evacuate people from the areas near the fire, said the mayor of Tryavna Municipality Dencho Minev. All deputy mayors in the affected area have been activated and people with permanent addresses there have been identified. Measures have been taken to evacuate them to a safe place, the mayor said. According to Minev, in some places people refused to leave, but with the assistance of the deputy mayors they were evacuated.
There is no reason to claim that the incident was caused by an external influence, Slavcho Demiev from the company "EMKO" also said. The incident began with a fire in one of the warehouses, after which the warehouse burned down, Demiev explained. It stored various types of ammunition, ammunition and elements for them, as well as gunpowder charges. "At this stage, the fire started from the inside out," Demiev said. According to him, the ignition that occurred was registered by workers at the site.
One of the possible versions being considered is the spontaneous ignition of a gunpowder charge.