At least 38 employees of the Mizdhur explosives factory leveled to the ground by a huge blast last week will be laid off after the incident, authorities say.

Employment office representatives in the town of Belogradchik in Bulgaria's north-west, not far from where the explosion occurred, told Dariknews.bg the workers' contracts are to be suspended within a month.

Fifteen people died and three were wounded by the blast last Wednesday.

It has not been officially established what caused the incident, but an error at the factory where Greek mines were being defused at the time of the explosion is currently though to be the most plausible explanation.

The north-west of Bulgaria is the EU's poorest region, with slim job prospects offered by an ailing local economy.

Last Friday the mayor of Gorni Lom, on the outskirts of which the plant was based, said it should be reopened, insisting that locals had no other option to make a living.

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