Rocket plant explosion in Serbia kills 2, injures 16

BELGRADE, Nov. 23– At least two people lost their lives and 16 were injured in a series of explosions that occurred at a private rocket factory in a southern suburb of Belgrade on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a press release. The blast at the warehouse, where 500 missiles weighing 30 kilograms each were stored in a space of around 240 square meters,…

BELGRADE, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) — At least two people lost their lives and 16 were injured in a series of explosions that occurred at a private rocket factory in a southern suburb of Belgrade on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a press release.

The blast at the warehouse, where 500 missiles weighing 30 kilograms each were stored in a space of around 240 square meters, occurred at around 2 p.m.

Milos Majstorovic, commander of the Belgrade Fire and Rescue Brigade, was quoted in the ministry press release as saying that five people were located and rescued from the danger zone.

According to Serbian public broadcaster RTS, around 40 employees were at the production facility at the time of the explosions.

Eleven firefighting vehicles with 36 officers were sent to the scene and participated in the rescue operation.

“The firefighters and rescuers have stabilized the situation and are searching the terrain using a drone with thermal imaging equipment to locate any victims and injured persons,” Majstorovic said.

A similar explosion occurred at the same plant 13 years ago, in which three people were injured, Serbian media reported. Enditem