Moscow, Aug 18 The death toll from a blast that took place on Friday at an explosives factory in Russia's Ryazan has increased to 20 while 134 others have been injured in the incident, emergency officials said on Monday.
The explosion took place at the Elastik synthetic fibre plant in the village of Lesnoy, located around 250 kilometres southeast of Moscow.
The explosion took place in a gunpowder workshop that was "completely destroyed", The Moscow Times reported, citing state-run media Ria Novosti. Industrial explosives, anti-armour warheads and gas generators for submarines are manufactured in the factory, The Moscow Times, reported citing local media reports.
Investigators have initiated a criminal investigation into possible industry safety violations. However, they have not announced any arrests yet. Authorities in the Ryazan area declared a day of mourning on Friday.
On Monday, Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said that first responders had cleared around half of the blast site and were making use of K-9 units to search for survivors.
The incident was the second deadly explosion at the Elastik plant since October 21 last year, when 21 people were killed in a workshop operated by explosives producer Razryad. The plant, once part of state defence conglomerate Rostec, stopped operations in 2018. However, it is mentioned as a private weapons and ammunition producer under the name “Zavod Elastik" in corporate filings.
Earlier on August 9, as many as 36 people were injured after a gas-air mixture explosion rocked a brick building in Sterlitamak, Russia's Bashkortostan Republic, said Alexei Kuznetsov, aide to Russia's Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko.
"As of now, 36 people have been injured, 22 of whom have been hospitalised, with the exact number still being determined," the regional investigators' statement said.
Reports claimed that 27 people were admitted to hospital after the explosion at the Bashkir Soda Company.
According to the company's press service, the explosion occurred due to a pipeline leak during preparations for a scheduled shutdown for major repairs at the vinyl chloride-polyvinyl chloride complex, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The statement said, "There is no threat to the population's life and health. Continuous monitoring of environmental quality has been organised in the adjacent area. All those injured who were working in the immediate vicinity at the time of the incident received necessary emergency assistance on site and were immediately taken to medical institutions for specialised care. There are no fatalities."
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