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Only one wagon with ammunition burnt completely in military train

The fire broke out at 08:00 Moscow time on Wednesday in a wagon of the military train 100 kilometres away from Novosibirsk

MOSCOW, July 25 (Itar-Tass) —— According to updated reports, only one wagon with ammunition burnt down completely in the military train outside Novosibirsk, five wagons burnt massively on the exterior, but the ammunition inside them did not explode, the press service of the Russian Defence Ministry told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

The fire broke out at 08:00 Moscow time on Wednesday in a wagon of the military train 100 kilometres away from Novosibirsk. “According to the report from the incident site, the military train was stopped at the safe place two kilometres away the Tikhomirovskaya crossing loop. The guards and a team of engine drivers in the military train left urgently the train and were evacuated from it at the safe distance,” a source in the Defence Ministry told Itar-Tass before.

The train was carrying 30-mm shells for the combat infantry vehicles.

“According to preliminary reports, the malfunction of the braking system caused an incident in the military train, which was carrying outdated ammunition outside Novosibirsk. The malfunction resulted in overheated brakes that triggered a fire in a wagon with ammunition,” Assistant Commander of the troops in the Central Military District Col. Yaroslav Roshchupkin told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. He flied to the incident site together with Commander of the troops of the Central Military District Col. Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

He noted that the train with ammunition departed in the Sverdlovsk Region on July 21 and was heading to the Kemerovo Region to the firing range Yurga, where the ammunition was to be scrapped.

Four teams of sappers and two combat engineer vehicles from the motorized unit were dispatched to the Tikhomirovskaya crossing loop.

“The fire train has already arrived at the incident site and is pouring water on the fire. Neither casualties nor destroyed buildings were reported in the incident area, because right after the fire at the wagon with ammunition, the military train was stopped at the deserted place two kilometres away from the crossing loop,” the source said.

“The maximum range of the 30-mm shells scattered to the combat infantry vehicles reached no more than 200 metres,” the source underlined.