PULGAON
At least 16 defence personnel, including two Army officers, were on Tuesday killed in a massive fire that broke out at one of Asia's biggest ammunition depot in Maharashtra's Pulgaon even as Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar ruled out any sabotage in the incident.
The fire which started at 1 am at one of the sheds that housed “highly sensitive ammunition” in the high security central ammunition depot (CAD), spread over 7,000 acres, has been completely doused and the situation brought under control after an overnight operation.
“However, in efforts to douse the fire, two officers and 14 personnel (to include one Army jawan and 13 civilian fire fighting staff) lost their lives and two officers and 15 personnel (to include nine Army Jawans and six civilian fire fighting staff) were injured,” Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh told reporters in New Delhi.
Loud explosions were heard one after the other as the raging fire lit up the night sky.
The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained and the Army has instituted an inquiry into the incident, Singh said.
The defence minister said there was no sabotage involved but the exact cause would be known only after inquiry.
“We are not ruling out any possibility but there is no sabotage as such,” he told reporters. Fire was contained with timely help from all the concerned persons and only a complete inquiry will reveal its cause, Parrikar said.
It is too early to speculate about the cause, he added. See pg 10
