Rescuers put out fire at Urals arms depot after three-day efforts

Rescuers have extinguished fire, which broke out at an arms depot in a Urals republic on Thursday night, causing blasts and injuring at least 78 people, a defense official said on Saturday.

Colonel Igor Konashenkov, head of the Defense Ministry information department, was speaking about the massive fire, which led to 30,000 people being evacuated. At least 12,000 have so far been unable to return home.

Emergencies services have refused to confirm that the fire has been put out completely.

A firefighting tank and other equipment have started to eliminate the consequences of the incident, said Igor Panshin, head of the Volga regional emergencies service. Two bomb disposal robots are working at the site.

Scattered explosions can still be heard.

Panshin said the arms depot had contained about 170,500 units of ammunition.

MOSCOW, June 4 (RIA Novosti)

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