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Two bodies found after ammunition depot blast in Abkhazia

The search for one more person continues

© REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

SUKHUM, August 3. /TASS/. The bodies of two people killed by an ammunition depot explosion in Abkhazia have been recovered on Thursday morning not far from the blast scene, a source in the Abkhazian Interior Ministry told TASS.

"The bodies of two people have been found, who presumably were tourists and died of shrapnel wounds. The search for one more person continues," the source said.

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According to the Interior Ministry, the tourists must have been killed while returning from a trip to a local waterfall.

On Wednesday, law enforcement agencies said that three tourists had gone missing, but since explosions continued for four hours (from 16:30 to 20:30 Moscow time - from 13:30 to 17:30 GMT), it was impossible to search the area. Search operation was launched only after explosions ceased.

On Wednesday, an explosion rocked the Abkhazian Defense Ministry’s ammunition depot located in the Primorskoye settlement, Gudautsky District. As a result, up to 60 people were injured, 27 of whom had to be taken to hospitals. The Abkhazian prosecutor general’s office has launched an investigation into the incident.

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