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Emergencies Ministry beefs up effort to extinguish fire at ammo depots near Ryazan

Several dozen houses have been damaged by explosions at the ammunition depots, the emergencies services told TASS

MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry has beefed up the grouping of forces and equipment more than twofold to eliminate the fire and explosions at the ammunition depots in the Ryazan Region, the ministry’s press office told TASS on Wednesday.

"Overall, 100 personnel and 26 items of equipment have been involved in the effort to extinguish the fire," the press office said.

The Emergencies Ministry reported earlier on Wednesday that 40 personnel and 14 pieces of equipment had been involved in the fire-fighting effort.

As Russia’s Emergencies Ministry reported, dry grass went ablaze at 13:40 Moscow time in the Ryazan Region, which caused fire on the territory of ammunition depots. Munitions started to explode as a result of the fire.

The local fire-fighting and rescue service has sent teams and a fire-fighting train to the scene of the incident. An Il-76 plane of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry is ready to join the fire-fighting effort. The Emergencies Ministry also plans to involve three Mi-8 helicopters, robotic equipment and field engineers.

Munitions at burning military depots in the Ryazan Region in central Russia have been continuously exploding for an hour, with explosions occurring every ten seconds, the regional emergencies services told TASS on Wednesday.

Road traffic has been halted at the local highway. Residents of near-by districts are being evacuated.

Several dozen houses have been damaged by explosions at the ammunition depots, the emergencies services told TASS.

"Several dozen houses have been damaged by fragmentations from shell explosions. The explosions continue and there have been several very powerful ones," the source said.