Fire at biggest ammo dump kills 16

A major fire broke out at the country’s largest ammunition bunker, the Army’s Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) at Pulgaon, near Wardha, Maharashtra, at about 1 am Tuesday, killing 16 people and injuring 17. Two officers (Lt. Col. R.S. Pawar from Kolhapur and Col. Manoj K), one jawan and 13 civilian fire-fighting staff lost their lives. Defence sources told this newspaper that three of the injured were in critical condition. The CAD is the second-largest ammunition depot in Asia and occupies almost 7,000 acres. Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and defence minister Manohar Parrikar visited the spot and Army HQ ordered an inquiry. Sources said the fire may have been caused by the extremely hot weather. A total of 130 tonnes of ammunition, worth almost Rs 100.44 crore, was destroyed, sources said. The fire, which started in one of the sheds, was first detected by soldiers on night duty who immediately set off the fire alarm and tried to put out the blaze. The residents of 10 villages in the vicinity were evacuated as the civil authorities feared the fumes from the exploding ammunition could be toxic.

“...in efforts to douse the fire, two officers and 14 personnel (one Army jawan and 13 civilian fire-fighting staff) lost their lives and two officers and 15 personnel (nine Army jawans and six civilian fire-fighting staff) were injured,” DGMO Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh told reporters in New Delhi. The names of all the dead were still to be confirmed.

Villages evacuated; 3 injured in fire critical Residents of the villages of Muradgaon, Agorgaon, Yashgaon, Nagjhari and Pimpri — adjoining the Army’s Central Ammunition Depot, where a massive fire broke out at about 1 am Tuesday — were evacuated to the Nagar Parishad school in Devlai and Zilla Parishad school in Digdo. After the fire was brought under control at around 4 pm on Tuesday, the villagers were allowed to return.

Seventeen injured Army personnel were admitted to Sawangi Neghe Hospital and Vinoba Bhave Medical College Hospital at Unhal, Wardha. Three were in critical condition and, at the time of going to press, Army teams from Pune had been summoned to provide specialist medical attention.

An official at the Wardha district magistrate’s office told this newspaper that ambulances from Vinoba Bhave Medical College Hospital, Sawangi Neghe Hospital, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College Hospital and Sevagram Hospital were also rushed to the spot along with doctors who attended to the injured Army personnel on the spot. Sevagram Hospital dean Patond said, “Our team of forensic experts has gone to Pulgaon for on-the-spot post-mortems. Also, our teams have been alerted to receive patients.”

The CAD has been in use for the last 60 years. It stores ammunition for weapons ranging from the BrahMos missile to AK-47 assault rifles. The depot also disposes of ammunition beyond its best-by date and recently received an award for using solar energy to destroy expired ammunition.

The Indian Army issued a press statement stating that the fire started in one of the sheds and immediate action was taken by fire-fighting personnel and quick reaction teams located at the depot who put the fire-fighting mechanism into place as per procedure.

Congress MLA from Wardha Ranjit Kamble said he rushed to the spot on hearing about the fire. “We were not allowed inside the area. The Army immediately took some measures by evacuating nearby villagers. A few civilians were also working for the Army,” he said.