Interior Minister: Reasons for blast at arms plant ‘more likely to be internal’
The reasons for an August 10 explosion at the Emko-owned arms plant near the Gabrovo village of Belita are yet to be clarified but “it is likely that the reasons are more likely to be internal,” Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev was quoted by his ministry as saying.
Demerdzhiev said that a report of an explosion at the ammunition storage facility in Belitsa was received soon before 11am.
Police, fire and gendarmerie teams were immediately sent to the scene, as well as emergency services, he said.
There are no reports of any injuries, Demerdzhiev said.
Steps had been taken to evacuate residents from the villages of Belitsa and nearby settlements, but only as a preventive measure, he said.
Steps also had been taken to contain the fire.
“The causes of the incident are being clarified, but it is clear that it happened during the day and in a process in which there were workers on site in one of the halls. So it is likely that the reasons are more likely to be internal,” he said.
In contrast, Emko said in a media statement on August 10 that the causes of the incident are being clarified, with human error being ruled out.
In addition to the fact that there were no injuries, no forest resources were affected and no environmental pollution was caused,” the company said.
The Emko statement cited similar incidents at the company’s warehouses in 2011, 2022, and 2023 and said that the investigations into them are still at a dead end.
“Similar incidents occurred over the past 15 years at other defence manufacturers, including VMZ Sopot, in spring 2015. The investigations into these incidents are still at a dead end, despite all our calls for results,” the company said.
Tryavna mayor Dencho Minev said on Facebook that the explosions were caused by a burning lorry.
“Until the exact causes of the accident are established, access to the area is not allowed. Fire and police teams have been sent to the scene of the incident,” Minev said.
Bulgarian media, recalling earlier explosions at arms plants, said that after a long delay, Bulgarian authorities had said that four explosions at military warehouses were likely carried out by officers from the Russian military intelligence (GRU).
One of the cases was at an Emko warehouse in Lovnidol.
There was an assassination attempt in 2015 against Emko owner Emilian Gebrev. Five years later, as public interest in the case in 2018 of the poisoning in the UK of Sergei Skripal, held to be the work of Russia, Bulgaria lodged charges in connection with the Gebrev case against three Russians – – Denis Sergeev, Sergey Lyutenko, and Yegor Gordienko.
(Photo: Svetoslav Simeonov, via Facebook)
