april 2011

april 2011

Russia blast: Multiple explosions rock arsenal storing 'millions' of shells as hundreds fight blaze

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Originally published by Andreas Krüger http://vk.com/xenia.andreas * Red Button TV holds no right for uploading thois video. It is uploaded for the purpose of information and education and should faall under fair use. No profit is being made Huge explosions have ripped through a munitions depot in Russia's Samara Region where over 13 million shells were stored. More than 1,500 firefighters were deployed to combat the blaze, and thousands of locals were evacuated. Local authorities declared a state of emergency after artillery shells began exploding at an ammunition depot about 15 kilometers from the city of Chapaevsk. The first blast was heard at around 15:00 GMT on Tuesday, with further detonations rocking the area through the night. Firefighters initially had difficulty reaching the blaze, as shell shards were scattering around the area. The depot housed some 13 million shells of various calibers at the time the explosions began. Nearly 6,000 of these rounds were 122-millimeter artillery shells, and the rest were 23- and 30mm anti-aircraft shells, the Emergencies Ministry reported. A self-detonated artillery shell may travel as far as 1.5 kilometers before exploding, the ministry warned, urging civilians to avoid the area. The facility also had a number of 80mm rocket launcher rounds, which are stored in a separate secure depot. No fatalities were reported in the incident as of Wednesday morning. Nine people were taken to hospital, while 24 others required on-site medical attention and were released afterwards, the ministry said. The local Investigative Committee reported that 11 people had been admitted to hospitals and 37 others required treatment. Police have cordoned off the area, and ordered at least 6,500 people from a nearby community to evacuate. Rescuers used an armored vehicle to pick up a depot staffer near the epicenter of the fire --well within the area threatened by the exploding ammo. More than 1,500 firefighters and rescuers with 240 vehicles were deployed to fight the blaze. The Emergencies Ministry also dispatched two planes with robot-equipped bomb disposal experts. Rescuers monitored the area with reconnaissance drones overnight before ruling that it was safe to send in crews. Ammunition depot explosions are not a rare occurrence in the Russian Federation. Over the last three years, more than a dozen incidents have shocked the nation taking the lives of both civilians and military personnel. The tragic highlights include July 2010 in the Altai region where six people died from explosions, including four civilians. In April 2011, an explosion at a military warehouse claimed the lives of four civilians employed by the Defense Ministry. In the Udmurtia region, a blast in June 2011 killed seven soldiers and wounded more than 100 people. Last year alone ten such incidents lit up the skies. The most tragic ones include an explosion in May 2012 in which six people were killed and four were injured. That accident, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, was followed by an explosion two weeks later in the Far East in which two people died. In September, while dismantling pieces of ammunition, an explosion claimed the life of one soldier in the Orenburg region. Thank You for watching. ............................. * NOTE Red Button TV is now also on another channel New Channel: Red Button TV1 http://www.youtube.com/user/redbuttontv1 Fukushima free project site made by Red Button TV https://sites.google.com/site/nukednews/