Houses in villages 10 km away from blast site shaken, 3,000 evacuated

NAGPUR: The extent of the inferno at Pulgaon’s Central Ammunition Depot was such that three villages — Agargaon, Nagzhari and Pipla — which are 10 kilometres away

NAGPUR: The extent of the inferno at Pulgaon’s Central Ammunition Depot was such that three villages — Agargaon, Nagzhari and Pipla — which are 10 kilometres away from the depot, had to be evacuated.

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According to Wardha district collector Shailesh Naval, villagers were provided temporary shelter and food at Deoli village by the district administration.

Few houses at Agargaon and Nagzhari were partially damaged due to the bombs that exploded following the fire.

After the inferno was brought under control, the villagers returned to their villages. About 20 fire engines were deployed to douse the inferno. The fire brigade battled to control the blaze from 1.30am till 11.30am on Tuesday.

Fire officer Ramesh Barde said the fire broke out at 1.30am and fire engines from nearby places reached the spot by 2.30am. “The fire was brought under control by Tuesday morning,” he said.

Guardian minister of Wardha district, Sundhir Mungantiwar, and Maharashtra minister for public health, Deepak Sawant, rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation and supervise the relief and rescue operations immediately after the cabinet meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday morning.Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday termed the incident “very unfortunate”.

He tweeted: “News of fire at Central Ammunition Depot, Pulgaon (sic) is very unfortunate and disturbing. Spoke to Wardha collector & took stock of the situation. Instructed Wardha collector to provide all required help in this situation. Also asked collectors of the neighbouring districts to stay alert.”