Villages evacuated after hundreds of blasts at “cleared” site of October explosion
Villages in the vicinity of a former munitions store in South Moravia have been evacuated after a series of blasts rang out on Wednesday. The situation has come as a shock to locals, who believed the site was now safe almost two months after the store first exploded. The cause is not clear – and there have been warnings more detonations could follow.
The private arms depot was destroyed in a huge blast in mid-October. However, pyrotechnics experts struggled to bring the site under control and smaller explosions were still going off weeks later.
Final clearance work was meant to have been carried out last weekend, with the remaining ammunition readied for removal from the site.
However, the problem returned with a vengeance on Wednesday morning. Fresh detonations began at 7:15 and hundreds have been heard since.
The police evacuated Lipová and Haluzice, two villages near the site, and local children were sent home from school.
“I don’t want to speculate, but I think people have been quite taken aback by the situation. Because we had information that they were starting to remove the munitions. We’re now awaiting news because we’re not in a position to say anything. We’ve been told that the minister of the interior is going to make a statement on the whole situation.”
Interior Minister Milan Chovanec did indeed make a statement, suggesting the fresh blasts may have been caused by the adverse weather conditions of recent days. The prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, laid the blame on subsidence at the site of the original crater.
The minister of defence, Martin Stropnický, also spoke on the subject, telling the Chamber of Deputies that no guarantees could be given to the people of Vrbětice and surrounding villages.
“These explosions could occur, they could, nobody knows exactly. It is beyond human powers to determine if that will happen and to what extent. Explosions could be caused by the movement of animals, or partial subsidence of the soil. The whole complex is a very risky place. But the number of specialists deployed is the maximum number that could take action.”
The site has been cordoned off and is being guarded by soldiers. As previously, it will remain completely closed for a period of at least seven days before explosives experts can examine it.
