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Continuing blasts on Samara test range blamed on fire in neighboring forest

As a result of a difference in temperatures one of the shells detonated, which caused fire

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

SETTLEMENT of NAGORNY, June 20 (Itar-Tass) - Blasts continuing on the Samara test range have become increasingly frequent because of a fire in a neighboring forest zone, said Deputy head of the Volga regional department for Emergency Situations Andrei Tretyakov.

"To make the territory safe it was decided to use fire engines to water the territory. As a result of a difference in temperatures one of the shells detonated, which caused fire. A strip of a forest around 30 kilometers in size caught fire. The munitions scattered in the forest have been detonating. There is no threat that the detonating fragments might reach the test range or the settlement," Tretyakov said.

He warned the population against panic. "There will be no evacuation," Tretyakov said.

Armored equipment has been operating on the test site. The force of the explosions is down now, and the intervals between them have become longer, Tretyakov said.

Earlier reports said that the cannonade of the explosions which went off every second since 1.20 pm until 2.50 pm, had been subsiding, the intervals between them had lengthened to five seconds.

The fire-fighting aircraft have resumed watering the territory.

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