BRATISLAVA, March 7, (WEBNOVINY) — An explosion of not yet identified ammunition in the ammunition warehouse of the military maintenance company VOP Novaky killed one person on Wednesday shortly after 1:00 P.M., spokesperson for the Slovak Armed Forces Milan Vanga confirmed for SITA newswire. Defense Ministry’s spokesman Ivan Rudolf mentioned one victim and added that grenade shrapnel hurt three other people. The information on other injured persons differs.
Prime Minister Iveta Radicova announced during the Cabinet’s session that two people were injured. Vanga on the other hand mentioned one wounded person. The spokesperson specified that that those people were checking the inventories of the facility because some ammunition was missing, as reported recently. Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, General Peter Vojtek and Prime Minister, Acting Defense Minister Iveta Radicova are heading to the site.
Director of the Hospital in Bojnice Ladislav Gerlich confirmed that the facility admitted two people transported from Novaky by emergency rescue service. They are presently undergoing checks. Based on the presently available information, one person will likely be hospitalized, while the other one will receive out-patient treatment.
This has been the second explosion at VOP after five years. The previous event killed eight people.
SITA