6 die in Wardha ammo depot blast

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, November 20

Six persons were killed and 10 injured in a blast at the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD), Pulgaon, in Maharashtra’s Wardha district this morning.

According to the police, the deceased included an Army man, a CAD employee and four labourers.

The incident occurred around 7 am when boxes of ammunition were being shifted to an open field near the ammunition depot where they were to be destroyed.

Initial information indicates that one of the boxes of ammunition caught fire and exploded while being offloaded from a truck.

Those killed were Narayan Shamrao (55), Vilas Lakshman (40), Uday Virasingh (37), Pravin Prakash Munjewar (25), Rajkumar Bhovate (23) and Prabhakar Ramdas Wankhede (40). While four of them died on the spot, two others breathed their last at a hospital. The ammunition comprised of defective shells for Shilka anti-aircraft guns. Contractual labourers were hired by the authorities to dig a pit in the ground where the ammunition was to be packed in sand bags before being exploded.

In a similar incident in 2016, 19 persons, including two Army officers, were killed when a warehouse storing anti-tank mines caught fire following an explosion.