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Mulino garrison awaiting relatives of soldiers killed in explosion

The bodies of four fatalities have been identified

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, May 4 (Itar-Tass) — The Mulino garrison where an explosion killed six soldiers on May 2, is expecting the arrival of the fatalities' relatives shortly.

"According to our information, relatives of three dead servicemen arrived in Nizhny Novgorod. The forensic examination of one body is completed, and relatives can collect the body for burial," head of the Garrison's investigation department Col Yuri Medyannikov told Itar-Tass on Friday.

The expert examinations of another two bodies are to be over soon.

Medyannikov said military investigators had finished the inspection of the firing range where the explosion had occurred. "The site of the explosion was unsafe for the investigators, so demolition experts suspended the recycling of obsolete ammunition. They had to check everything carefully," he said.

The bodies of four fatalities have been identified. The identification procedure for two other bodies will take time.

Medyannikov said it was premature to draw conclusions about the cause of the firing range blast. Several versions are under consideration, but final conclusions can be drawn only after the completion of all complex expert examinations, he underlined.

The explosion ripped through the firing range at around 14:40, Moscow time, on May 2, as servicemen were unloading retired ammunition to the ground. Five soldiers were killed outright, and the sixth died in a military hospital later.

Three injured servicemen are now being treated at the Burdenko military hospital in Moscow.

Four more injured soldiers were flown to the Burdenko hospital earlier in the day.

Criminal proceedings were opened over the explosion under Article 349, Part 3 /violation of rules of handling explosives and dangerous objects/.