6 dead, 10 injured in an explosion in Pulgaon Army depot in Maharashtra`s Wardha

The explosion took place in Pulgaon Army depot on Tuesday morning.

WARDHA: The death toll in Pulgaon Army depot explosion reached six by Tuesday morning. At least 10 persons are injured in the accident.

The blast occurred when the team was destroying explosives at the depot in Maharashtra's Wardha on Tuesday morning. The injured were admitted to a hospital in the nearby Savangi village. Police and fire brigade officials rushed to the spot to carry out the rescue operation.

#SpotVisuals: Two killed, several injured in an explosion in Pulgaon Army depot in Wardha. Further details awaited. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/9hHbsBXLbO

The deceased include an ammunition factory employee and two labourers.

The impact of the blast was so strong that several nearby villages reported hearing a loud explosion.

According to emerging reports, a crate containing ammunition and bombs fell from a worker's hand leading to the explosion.

Confirming the news of the explosion, a defence official said, "Three killed in an explosion near ordnance depot in Maharashtra's Wardha district. The explosion took place near ordnance depot in Wardha while disposing of old explosives." The explosion took place around 7 am while ammunition was being unloaded, he added.

The demolition ground at the Central Ammunition Depot at Pulgaon in the district was given to Ammunition Factory, Khamaria, for demolition activities, he said.

Around 10 to 15 contract labourers were at the site when the incident occurred, Wardha's Additional Superintendent of Police Nikhil Pingle said.

"The blast occurred in one of the ammunition boxes while unloading the ammunition. The incident took place in an open land," he said.

While four people were killed on the spot, two others succumbed to injuries in hospital, Inspector General of Police (Nagpur Range) K M M Prasanna told PTI.

The Pulgaon Army deport is Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) camp and the second largest ammunition depot in Asia. 

In 2016, 16 people were killed in a blast at the same ammunition depot at Pulgaon.

With agency inputs