Moscow, June 11: Three children and two adults were killed when a shell exploded on a military base in central Russia, emergency response officials said today. A teenage boy was also severely injured in the blast yesterday evening, said Vladimir Nesterenko, a spokesman for the emergency situations and civil defense ministry branch in the region of Mari-el. He said an investigation had begun.
The six blast victims were believed to have been searching the base in the village of Krasnooktyabrsk for scrap metal to sell, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. According to law enforcement officials, base personnel had been blowing up old munitions around the time the fatal blast occurred, Itar-Tass said.
Scavengers looking for metal to sell as scrap frequently risk their lives dismantling railroads, industrial installations and electric and telephone cables in Russia. The country's energy monopoly, UES, says hundreds of thieves are electrocuted each year.
Bureau Report