Explosions Rock Arms Depot in Russia

Ulyanovsk is the capital city of the Ulyanovsk region, the birthplace of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, and home to a major naval munitions facility. That facility exploded on Friday with dire consequences for the city.

Ulyanovsk is located by the Volga River about 900 km east of Moscow. The naval munitions facility located there is a major node in the military's decommissioning infrastructure. Old, decaying Cold War-era munitions are collected there to be decommissioned and disassembled. It also makes it incredibly dangerous. It is, literally, like living on top of thousands of tons of explosives. Friday the unimaginable happened. Multiple blasts, which took place while munitions were being detonated in a controlled operation at the city's number 31 arms depot, rocked the city, smashing the windows in nearby residences and setting car alarms off across the city.the Ulyanovsk branch of Russia's FSB security service said in a statement. "There was a loud bang, then there was silence and then explosions, explosions, explosions - like fireworks on New Year's," resident Igor Komandin told Channel One television. Some 3,000 civilians were evacuated from nearby homes, Ulyanovsk provincial governor Sergei Morozov said, RIA Novosti reported. Initial estimates of a death toll in the range of 30-50 were proven wrong. A large number of the missing, 43 military personnel, retreated into a bomb shelter and waited the fire out. The People's Daily Online reported late yesterday that two firefighteres had been killed, three firefighters were hospitalized and four others had minor injuries that did not require hospitalization. There were no other casualties.