3 employees died in a factory explosion in the town of Shirvan on July 26th and more than 20 were injured.
According to the Ministry of Defense, ‘Araz’ armaments factory caught fire after an explosion at 15:35 on the 26th.
The Ministry of Healthcare told ‘Report’ that those injured in the explosion were under the personal supervision of Minister Oqtay Shireliyev.
Personnel of the Ministry of Extreme Situations were called to the site and are currently evacuating local residents in the vicinity of the incident site.
A two kilometer radius road block was set up outside the town.
The blast was heard far away from the location of the factory; windows and store front glass were blown out in the shockwave.
According to the website of the
Presidential Administration,
62 individuals were employed by the factory at its opening; it is unknown how many people were located inside the building at the time when the explosion took place.
According to
Sputnik Abkhazia
, the majority of Shirvan’s police personnel were present at the site of the accident.
Initial information on the blast reported by the Shirvan police department related that the blast took place near a weapons storage facility of the factory.
Last year, a similar explosion due to a short circuit took place near the Ministry of Defense’s ‘Telemekhanika’ factory, not far from ‘Araz.’ Two individuals died in the incident and 17 were injured.
Shirvan is located more than 130 km south-west of Baku.
The following videos have been shared with Meydan TV by eyewitnesses of the event: