Ammunition Depot Explodes In Abkhazia, Killing 2, Injuring 60

An ammunition depot in the Republic of Abkhazia, bordering Russia exploded yesterday leaving two people killed and 60 injured, including 30 Russian nationals.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations has began evacuating the local population of the village of Primorskoe, Pravda.ru reported Thursday which commented that the explosion "resembled a nuclear blast."

Sprodaic blasts continued even after the big explosion, the report said adding that the blast took place in the Defense Minitry premises in the village of Primorskoye and it was so intense that it was felt in Pitsunda, 70 kilometers away.

Further ,around 60 people, including 27 Russian citizens, were injured as a result of the explosion. Many of them were hospitalized with multiple shrapnel wounds caused with ruptured shells, rocks and debris.

"We found two bodies on the territory close to the area, where the explosion occurred. They were identified as Elena Polyakova, born in 1970, and Elena Timofeeva, born in 1962, both residents of St. Petersburg,"official spokesperson for the EMERCOM of Abkhazia, Mizan Lomiya said.

However, the personnel and facilities at the Russian military base in Abkhazia were not affected by an explosion at an ammunition depot of the Abkhazian Defense Ministry on Wednesday, spokesman for Russia's Southern Military District Col. Vadim Astafyev said.

Information concerning the cause of the explosion at the ammunition depot has yet to be investigated. There is also risk of the fire being spread into the neighboring depot where other military equipment is housed.

Abkhazia is a partially recognised state on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus Mountains, south of Russia and northwest of Georgia proper. The state is internationally recognised as part of the tiny ex-Soviet state of Georgia, but has claimed independence since a conflict after the collapse of the USSR.  

Moscow has more than 1000 troops stationed in the regions in what Georgia calls a military "occupation", and supports the two provinces with financial aids.