Explosion in ammunition factory at the Vazovski Machine-Building Plant shook the village of Iganovo in the first day following the Easter holidays. A similar accident occurred in the same factory only several weeks ago, on march 21. There were no victims or injured people, but the population had to be evacuated, so that the competent authorities (Bulgaria’s Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense) could investigate the accident. The reasons behind this explosion are not clear yet. The ammunition factory, however, was closed in a moment when the company was still working over old contracts and was still paying off old debts. We are not talking about a separate case. It is rather a series of accidents, which before took human lives as well. Radio Bulgaria commented these cases in October 2014 under the heading “Bulgarian society is worried about the Sequence of Tragic Accidents”. Now, only several months later, we can add: “The society is still worried about the Sequence of Tragic Accidents.”

Nineteen Bulgarians died in recent years during ammunition disposals and another eighteen were injured. The authorities said during previous accidents that they were mainly due to the low competence and qualification of the personnel dealing with ammunition and the low and insufficient control over the production process. Moreover, only private companies were in charge of the ammunition disposal, whereas the job could be done by highly-qualified people from the state military sector.

  The fact that Bulgaria’s Ministry of Economy, which controls the factory, where the last explosion took place, avoided to share its hypothesis, raises concerns. It directed our attention towards the special services, which have to answer why two massive explosions took place in the same factory within one month only. According to the authorities, the fact that the fire occurred in a closed factory, where the access was limited due to investigations over the previous accident, is very suspicious. Bulgaria’s Minister of Economy Bozhidar Lukarsky did not rule out the version regarding possible sabotage at the production site. Bulgaria’s Minister of Defense Nikolay Nenchev admitted that he recently received a report that hinted at possible sabotage intent, but he also refused to draw any general conclusions before the final stand of the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office.

The concerns amidst the Bulgarian society are quite reasonable. They are due to the fact that the old feeling of the lack of state control and justice has not been overcome yet. The pre-trial procedures and the lawsuits usually last for many years and real sentences are rare to be seen. The measures of the authorities after every single accident are only on paper. However, we are talking about a damage caused over a specific sector of Bulgaria’s defense industry which creates hundreds of jobs. The sequence of tragic accidents still continues and the fact that similar accidents occur worldwide and nobody can feel completely safe when dealing with explosives, brings less consolation now.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov