At least twelve people have died, and dozens have been injured, after a series of violent explosions in an ammunition depot in Kazakhstan, aid announced in the central Asian country on Friday.
In a statement, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said four people were still missing after the explosions that occurred Thursday evening at a depot dating from the Soviet period, in the region of Jambil (South). The victims – soldiers and rescuers – are being identified, the source added.
Frequent explosions
Throughout the former USSR, explosions in weapons depots are frequent and often caused by negligence, dangerous storage conditions or the state of dilapidated infrastructure. In the past, the military have also been suspected of concealing illegal arms sales by detonating these huge stockpiles inherited from the Cold War. According to the Kazakh Defense Ministry, a fire first started Thursday evening in this depot, then quickly spread to ammunition, sparking several detonations.
Among the dead, according to this source, are two firefighters who were trying to put out the blaze and a soldier who was guarding the facility at the time of the disaster. A video shared on Telegram messaging showed a column of smoke rising from a fire among the trees, before a powerful explosion sounded
The fire still in progress
“The explosions have ceased but the blaze continues,” the ministry said on Friday, adding that part of the ammunition stored there had recently been transferred from the neighboring region of Turkestan, where a similar explosion took place there. two years, causing several victims.
This time, the regional governor said Friday that more than 80 people had been injured. Among them, 28 are hospitalized, including six in serious condition, but “their lives are not in danger”, according to this source.
“500 tonnes of TNT”
According to the emergency services, debris thrown into the air by the explosions were found within a radius of two kilometers. “According to preliminary information, more than 500 tonnes of TNT were stored in the warehouse,” continued this source. Defense Minister Nourlan Ermekbayev told reporters that he was ready to step down following the incident, but that it was up to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to decide.
A commission was set up to establish the causes of the incident, the minister not ruling out the possibility of arson. Local authorities said they had evacuated nearly 1,200 inhabitants from surrounding villages to the town of Taraz, about thirty kilometers from the site of the explosions. In 2019, an explosion at a depot near the town of Arys, in the Kazakh region of Turkestan, left two dead and many injured, also causing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.