One worker died and 50 people were injured after a series of explosions at a military ammunitions depot in central Russia, officials said Wednesday. Some 4,500 local residents were evacuated after the fire late Tuesday at the depot just outside Chapayevsk, a military-industrial town in the Samara region, according to DPA. Governor Nikolai Merkushkin said rescue workers had found the body of a worker on the premises, according to media reports. Many of the injured were said to inhabitants of a residential area close to the depot. Television footage showed fireballs and black smoke rising above the apartment blocks. Amateur video footage showed shrapnel flying onto a highway. Firefighters used airplanes Wednesday to extinguish the blaze, which at one point covered three hectares, the Emergency Ministry said. According to the authorities, up to 18 million grenades are stored in the Soviet-era depot.
