Explosions at warehouses and training grounds of the Russian Defense Ministry have already become quite commonplace. Another incident took place in May 2012 in the Astrakhan region at an ammunition disposal site.
The explosion took place on May 25, 2012 in the Astrakhan region, on the territory of the thirty-second Ashuluksky air range, which belongs to the Ministry of Defense of Russia. The incident happened when unloading ammunition from a KAMAZ vehicle, as a result of a fire, one hundred and forty-five boxes were detonated, containing eight hundred and forty shots for grenade launchers intended for disposal. One serviceman was injured and received medical assistance. There are no fatalities.
On the fact of the explosion at the test site, a check has begun, military investigators are studying all the circumstances of the incident. According to preliminary data, the cause of the explosion was the ignition of a paper container near the ammunition. Seeing the flames unloading the vehicle, the servicemen managed to take cover. The vehicle that brought the ammunition boxes cannot be restored.
Unfortunately, this is not the first explosion at this test site. On August 23, 2011, during the unloading of rockets for the Grad installations, the engine of one of the ammunition spontaneously fired. As a result, a fire started, followed by the detonation of the shells. As a result of the incident, eight servicemen of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation were killed and ten were wounded of varying severity.
The military explains the need for work on the disposal of ammunition by the expiration of their shelf life and the danger of further storage. The ammunition to be destroyed is taken to the landfill and detonated. This method of disposal is the cheapest, therefore it is very widely used. However, old shells, mines, charges for grenade launchers and multiple launch rocket systems, stored in warehouses for decades, are very unreliable and can sometimes detonate even from an accidental impact. That is why incidents during their destruction occur with frightening regularity, sometimes leading to numerous casualties.
