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Cateraker Interior Minister Yordan Bakalov speaks to reporters near the site of Wednesday's blast, in Gorni Lom on Thursday, 2 October 2014. Photo BGNES
A human error is the likely cause of Wednesday’s blast at an explosives factory in northwestern Bulgaria, leading ammunition expert Valentin Radev has said.
Radev, a former Bulgarian deputy defence minister, told Nova TV channel that according to the factory’s owner Valeri Mitkov, a process of recovery of explosives from withdrawn Greek landmines was underway at the factory in Gorni Lom, in Vidin region, when the blast occurred about 5pm on Wednesday.
“Both workshops (of the factory) are no longer there,” Radev said.
“All landmines stored in the workshops had exploded,” he added, making clear the information was based on reports by members of rescue teams who entered the site of the blast on Wednesday night, ignoring the 24-hour ban in search of survivors.
“They saw the craters, the buildings were gone”.
According to unofficial estimates, the death toll from the blast at an explosives could be as high as 15. The explosion also left three women injured.
Reports of trucks loaded with landmines and parked close to the factory have not been confirmed, Radev said.
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