An explosion occurred at the ammunition warehouse of the EMKO company in the Bulgarian city of Karnobatom.

According to the owner of the arsenal, Emilian Gebrev, the explosion at the ammunition depot did not happen by accident, BNR reports.

Gebrev also noted that the ammunition stored there was outdated.

“There is no human error here. At 04:00, there was an explosion, and then the warehouse caught fire. What was inside, no one can say. It is forbidden to go inside for 24 hours, but these are, basically, ammunition that is no longer needed at the factory. Some company once ordered something, then due to non-payment they did not receive the goods, and we kept them,” he said.

A fire broke out on the scene, it has already been extinguished.

The territory of the depot was inspected with a drone. The territory will be closed for 72 hours.

The deputy mayor of Karnobatom, Stefka Ivanova, reported that there were no casualties or threats to the population.

The damage caused was also not announced.

As previously reported, Bulgaria is helping Ukraine with the repair of military equipment. Bulgaria assured that the actions of the Russian Federation will not affect the work of local facilities repairing military equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Bulgaria will continue restoring Ukrainian military equipment despite Russia’s decision to suspend their certification of Bulgarian enterprises on Russian/Soviet helicopter repair, the Bulgarian Defense Minister Dragomir Zakov said.

Previously, in 2020 Bulgaria charged three Russians, who supposedly worked for Russian Secret Services, for Gebrev poisoning with Novichok poisoning agent.