The explosions in the warehouses and ranges of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation have already become quite commonplace. Another incident occurred in May 2012 in the Astrakhan region at a landfill for the disposal of ammunition.
The explosion occurred on May 25, 2012 in the Astrakhan region, on the territory of the thirty-second Ashuluksky training ground belonging to the Russian Ministry of Defense. The incident occurred when unloading ammunition from a KAMAZ car, as a result of the fire, one hundred forty-five boxes containing eight hundred and forty shots to grenade launchers intended for disposal were blown up. One soldier suffered, he received medical assistance. There are no dead.
Upon the fact of the explosion, a check has been started at the training ground, military investigators are studying all the circumstances of the incident. According to preliminary data, the cause of the explosion was the ignition of paper containers located near the ammunition. Seeing the flames, the troops unloading the car managed to take cover. The machine on which the boxes of ammunition were brought cannot be restored.
Unfortunately, this is not the first explosion at this training ground. On August 23, 2011, during the unloading of rockets for Grad installations, the engine of one of the ammunition spontaneously started. As a result, a fire started, followed by detonation of shells. As a result of the incident, eight servicemen of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation died, ten were injured of varying severity.
The military explains the need for ammunition disposal work by the expiration of their shelf life and the danger of further storage. Ammunition to be disposed of is taken to the landfill and detonated. This method of disposal is the cheapest, therefore it is very widely used. However, old shells, mines, charges for grenade launchers and multiple launch rocket systems, stored in warehouses for decades, are very unreliable and can sometimes detonate even from an accidental strike. That is why incidents during their destruction occur with frightening regularity, sometimes leading to numerous victims.
