site.btaProsecution Comes Up with First Theories about Blast at Gorni Lom Explosives Factory

105 POLITICS-GORNI LOM- MEMORIAL SERVICE-VICTIMS

Prosecution Comes Up
with First Theories
about Blast at Gorni Lom Explosives Factory


Vidin, on the Danube, October 4 (BTA) - The prosecution
authorities have suggested that incorrect ammunition disposal or
an explosion in the explosives grinder may have caused the
October 1 blast in an ammunition disposal factory in Gorni Lom,
which killed 15 people.

On Saturday, the investigators found human remains and five
explosion craters at the site. The plant had stored excessive
amounts of explosives.

On September 30 and October 1, six truckloads of mines were
unloaded and stored at the factory. The store was searched and
sealed on Saturday.

The prosecution authorities recall that on October 1, hours
before the explosion, the plant's executive director had been
denied permission to transport 800,000 land mines from Gorni Lom
to the company's storage facility in Seslavtsi.

Reacting to conflicting media reports, the Admiistrative Court
in Vidin said that out of nine administrative proceedings
against factory owner Videx, only two were about failure to
observe safe working conditions, in May 2009 and in February
2010, when a fire broke out in the factory following an
explosion.

On Saturday a memorial service was held for the fifteen victims
in the village of Gorni Lom.

The Bulgarian Red Cross will assist financially the families of
the victims. A five-year old child, whose parents both died in
the explosion, will receive 5,000 leva. LI/PP