An explosion and fire at a gunpowder factory in Russia on Friday killed at least fifteen people, while one was missing, regional officials said.
“A fire broke out after a technological process….seven people died, one was hospitalized and the fate of nine others remains unknown,” the emergency ministry said in a statement.
The death toll was updated to 15 later on Friday morning, with one person still missing, and one in hospital.
More than 170 firefighters and rescue workers were dispatched to the scene to control the fire.
“There is no threat to the population” of the nearby localities, the ministry said.
The incident occurred at the site of the Elastik factory, which specializes in the manufacture of industrial explosives for civilian use, according to its website, but it also has “production capacity” for ammunition.
It is considered a “strategic enterprise” by the Russian government and, according to the company’s website, belongs to the state-owned Rostec conglomerate, which groups together a host of companies supplying industrial and high-tech products to the civilian and military sectors.
The factory is in the Ryazan region, about 270 kilometers southeast of Moscow.
Officials are looking at violations of safety procedures or a short circuit among possible causes.
Accidental and deadly explosions or fires are common in Russia, due to the dilapidated infrastructure, or the failure to comply with safety standards.
In December 2020, eleven people died in a fire inside a retirement home in the Urals region.
In January 2020, eleven and four people died in separate fires in Tomsk and Moscow in migrant accommodation.
The worst fire in recent years was in 2018 when 64 people died after flames engulfed a shopping center, whose alarm systems and emergency exits were inoperable.
