Fire tore through an ammunition depot in the central Russian region of Udmurtia Friday, still causing shells to explode more than 13 hours after it began. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes.
Two elderly people living in the vicinity died of heart attacks apparently connected to stress from the explosions, the republic’s health minister Vladimir Muzlov said Friday, according to Russian news agencies.
News reports said 45 people were injured in the blaze and explosions that started late Thursday at the arsenal some 900 kilometers (550 miles) east of Moscow.
Nearly 30,000 people were reported to have been evacuated from the surrounding area. Explosions broke windows in buildings as far as 10 kilometers (six miles) from the arsenal.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately determined.
Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Dmitry Bulgakov told the ITAR-Tass news agency that the arsenal stores a small number of artillery rockets, but they are not in danger of exploding.
