At least 10 people were killed and 18 injured when explosions tore through the Plastmass military ammunition plant in Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk region, according to Governor Alexei Teksler on Telegram and reports by the emergency services cited by TASS
Teksler reported that the blaze had been extinguished and recovery teams from the Ural rescue center were clearing the site, while psychologists from the Emergency Ministry hadprovided assistance to survivors.
He declared a municipal state of emergency and added: “I want to stress again – this was not a drone attack.”
Location and plant profile
Chelyabinsk region sits in Russia’s southern Urals, roughly 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) east of the border with Ukraine. Kopeysk is located roughly 14 kilometers (9 miles) southeast of the regional capital, Chelyabinsk.
The Plastmass plant produces explosives and ammunition and as part of the Technodinamika enterprise , a holding company within the Rostec state corporation.
According to The Moscow Times, the first blast occurred shortly after midnight local time on Thursday – 10 pm Moscow time – followed shortly by a secondary explosion resulting from the subsequent fire.
Investigation and recent incidents
The investigative outlet ASTRA reports that Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into “alleged violations of industrial safety rules at a hazardous facility resulting in multiple deaths” – stating the blast was caused by breaches of safety during a technological process in a workshop.
This is the second explosion within a week at an enterprise inside the Rostec structure, The Moscow Times reported that a similar incident had occurred on Oct. 17 at the Avangard plant in Sterlitamak, Bashkortostan (Volga–Ural region of Russia, southeast of the Urals). Six employees were injured, which the plant’s General Director Dmitry Loginov attributed it to an “accident in the nitro unit.”
In April a series of explosions rocked on of Russia’s largest military ammunition storage sites at Barsovo, in the Kirzhachsky District of the Vladimir Oblast, 70 kilometers (43 miles) northeast of Moscow.
The resulting fires and explosions lasted for several days in the facility that belonged to Russia’s 51st arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate (GRAU) as a result a state
According to the BBC Russia’s Ministry of Defense issued a statement which said “The cause of the fire is a violation of safety requirements when working with explosive materials.”