LIVE: At least 20 dead in major fire at Army’s biggest ammunition depot in Pulgaon

[pmaitra]

as far as i understand ammo depot are made of mud house not concrete

is that true

@Kunal Biswas has been there. He knows.

@Razor also has been to a different where they keep the munitions in air conditioned storage.

That place has to be upgraded, Last time when it exploded i was there in cantt ..

CO was wounded on his leg, He was bleeding but didn't stay behind but went into action shoulder to shoulder with other officers and soldiers, There were no casualty back then, Unfortunately he was sacked ..

Airconditioning??

One ammo depot I visited down south, had a giant fully airconditioned room (filled with "made in moldova" missiles.)

_____________________________________

Just look at this pathetic headline given by NDTV. Disgusting.


Explosions At 'Mecca Of Ammunition' Leave A Temple Wrecked

Sorry, blaming NDTV doesn't help, when the army people themselves call it the "Mecca of Ammunition."

It's called eye catching title. News media use rhetoric to attract viewers.

I have to revise my earlier comment. NDTV is actually stating the truth.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Nearest Village near that installation is quite far, The explosion was limited to one bunker not other which are in hundreds, The explosion could shake and may break windows but doubtfully do the damage explained by NDTV regardless whatever they have put in that article ..

The place is so huge that there are trains for various destinations within the installation, The cantt itself is located no less than 10kms from it ..

I hope, People here can understand the scale of such installation, The size of explosion and near by localities..

 

[Razor]

@Kunal Biswas has been there. He knows.

@Razor also has been to a different where they keep the munitions in air conditioned storage.

Mud houses? I highly doubt it.

The one I visited was INS Rajali. This was maybe 10 years back, not sure; I was still in school.
We went there to do some work on the Air conditioning system on the big room.

Also I remember one of the guys there told me, while he was giving me a tour, that this base had the second longest runway in Asia. And it was really big, I couldn't see the end of the runway. In my mind I was thinking, "Let me guess, the longest is in china." It was a mild surprise when he said the longest is in Siberia.

 

[pmaitra]

Mud houses? I highly doubt it.

The one I visited was INS Rajali. This was maybe 10 years back, not sure; I was still in school.
We went there to do some work on the Air conditioning system on the big room.

Also I remember one of the guys there told me, while he was giving me a tour, that this base had the second longest runway in Asia. And it was really big, I couldn't see the end of the runway. In my mind I was thinking, "Let me guess, the longest is in china." It was a mild surprise when he said the longest is in Siberia.

Oh, so it was a Navy Air Base. I am guessing it houses Tupolev-95's other avatar, Tupolev-142?

Does that ARK refer to Arakkonam?

 

[Razor]

Oh, so it was a Navy Air Base. I am guessing it houses Tupolev-95's other avatar, Tupolev-142?

Does that ARK refer to Arakkonam?

Yes, I did see a similar looking aircraft, though at that time I was not adept at identifying combat aircraft; but I think it was tu142.

Rajali is in arakkonam, so I'm guessing ARK stands for arakkonam, though I'm not sure.

 

[ezsasa]

Defective ammunition across country to be removed in three months

The government has said that the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), that makes ammunition for the security forces, will replace or repair the defective ammunition stored in depots across the country within three months.

This comes in the wake of a Court of Inquiry report and subsequent decisions taken at the level of the defence minister Manohar Parrikar's office.

The process will be undertaken by Army Headquarters (AHQ) here and will involve disposal of all defective segregated mines, held at various locations across the country.

The new directives entail AHQ, in consultation with all stakeholders will finalise the standard operating procedures (SOPs') for disposal of defective ammunition in fixed time frame, and fixing up responsibility for defect, besides regularisation of loss.

Further, the AHQ will review the security and surveillance and fire safety arrangements at all ammunition depots.

The army has cited leaking TNT from the anti-tank mines as the cause of the massive fire at the CAD, India's largest explosives depot spread in more than 700 acres and located 115 KM from Nagpur. TNT is an explosive material used in mines.

In a report submitted to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) earlier, Army underlined that defective anti-tank mines were stored at the CAD shed which was completely reduced to ashes in the incident - for nine years and were waiting to be attended by the OFB. 130 tonnes of anti-tank mines were destroyed in the incident. CAD stores a variety of ammunition including that of AK-47s and Brahmos Missiles in total 299 storage sheds.

CAG report
According to a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report last year, as on March 31 2013, 31, 2013, 13 kinds of ammunition worth Rs1,617.94 crore were lying rejected across 856 lots due to manufacturing defects. This included 102,805 anti-tank mines worth Rs 47.29 crores that were found to be defective across various ammunition depots in the country

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/repor...country-to-be-removed-in-three-months-2236818

 

[Zulfiqar Khan]

Isnt this the second time this has happened?

 

[ezsasa]

Isnt this the second time this has happened?

Nope, posted to bring closure to the original thread.
Fire was in the place where defective mines were being stored. They were waiting for OFB to take the bad stock back.

 

[indiatester]

Same place another accident.


6 killed, several injured in explosion at Army's ammunition depot in Wardha

Shishir Arya| TNN | Updated: Nov 20, 2018, 12:30 IST

At least two persons are feared dead in the incident.



NAGPUR: A blast at the premises of Army’s Central Ammunition Depot (CAD), Pulgaon, over 90 kms from Nagpur, has left six persons dead. The deceased persons include one army personnel, an ordnance factory employee and four labourers.

They were engaged in destroying 23 mm Shilka anti-aircraft ammunition rounds. The accident took place when the officials of Ordnance Factory were destroying the Shilka rounds production of which has been stopped owing to technical issues.

The operation was happening under the technical supervision of the CAD staff and contract workers were engaged too, said sources. The blast took place at 7 am.

Two years ago a much bigger blast at CAD had killed 18 persons, including two Lt Colonel and Major rank-officers. The army calls CAD as ‘Mecca of ammunition’ as it is the largest storage areas for ordnance built during the World War II.

Production of the 23 ammunition of Russian make has been stopped since 2014 by the Ordnance Factory which has reported that the rounds had issues related to designs and were prone to accidents. A source said that the decision to stop the production was taken by the ordnance factory board (OFB) after some accidents were reported in handling the 23 mm ammunition rounds.

The ammunition is made at the ordnance factory Khamaria in Jabalpur over 250 kms from Nagpur. The stock of the remaining rounds were cleared from the factory premises at Khamaria and were brought to CAD Pulgaon for destroying.

Sources privy to the issue said the rounds were taken to Pulgaon as the CAD had the expertise and also the space needed to carry out the operations. However, the labour which include contract workers were deployed by the ordnance factory which had engaged its own personnel at the site too.
A statement by the defence spokesperson at Nagpur said that the demolition of the explosives was carried out by the staff of ordnance factory Khamaria with the help of an authorised contractor. "The contractors’ services were used for digging the pit and placing a sand bag over the explosives. One ordnance factory staff and three contract workers sustained fatal injuries and have been rushed to the hospital," it said.

As per the recent reports, the incident has claimed six lives.

The deceased persons have been identified as Narayan Shamrao (55), Vilas Lakshman (40), Uday Virasingh (37), Pravin Prakash Munjewar (25), Rajkumar Bhovate (23) and Prabhakar Ramdas Wankhede (40).




In June 2016, when 18 persons including two army officers were killed, a warehouse storing anti tank mines had gone off. The mines were defective and were due to be destroyed or needed urgent repairs. The CAD had reported that the TNT (explosive material) was leaking out of the mines. Before a final decision could be taken, the mines went off leading to the biggest casualty at the CAD. Finally, the faulty mines were blamed for the incident.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...tion-depot-in-wardha/articleshow/66702623.cms

 

[Varun2002]

Tragic fire in Kolkata high rise kills 9., including firemen, railway security and railway official(s)

Kolkata Strand road fire: Four firemen among 9 people killed in Kolkata high-rise inferno | Kolkata News - Times of India

Nine people — four firemen, a policeman, an RPF jawan, a railway official and two unidentified persons — died in firefighting and rescue operations, a

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

 

[Varun2002]

Maharashtra: At least 3 workers die in blast at a chemical factory, many feared trapped | City - Times of India Videos

In a tragic incident, at least three workers were killed in a blast at a chemical factory in an industrial area of Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district. 40 to 50 people are feared to be trapped inside the factory. 40 to 50 people are feared to be trapped inside the factory.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Another one of those awful blasts in a chemical factory. 3 dead, 3 carried out in critical condition, a number evacuated safely, some still trapped. Rescue underway.