An explosion at an ordinance plant in Bulgaria killed one U.S. citizen and left four others injured on Saturday, government officials have confirmed.
Those injured in the accident included one American and two Bulgarians, who are in a stable condition and getting treatment at Sv Georgi University Hospital in Plovdiv, BGNES news service.
Sopot mayor Vesselin Lichev said that there were three foreign citizens and two Bulgarians involved in accident, according to Sofia Globe. The U.S .national, who died in explosion, was a civilian and not an arm dealer.
The U.S. Embassy in Sofia has confirmed the death of a U.S. national. "The U.S. Embassy regretfully confirms the death of one Department of Defence contractor and the injury of two other contractors and a Bulgarian translator in a training accident on June 6 in Anevo," the embassy said in a statement, AP reported.
The explosion occurred at the shooting range of state-owned arms producer VMZ Sopot in Anevo village in Central Bulgaria, Novinite reported. The incident happened during experimental grenade launcher firing conducted by a private firm.
However, the Bulgarian government has defended the state-owned ordinance firm, saying that incident was a private company's fault, the Focus Information Agency reported.
"The firing ground was used by a private company under a contract. The ammunition used, which also incited the incident, was of poor quality and owned by the company. It was produced in 1984 by VMZ-Sopot and around 4-5 years ago it was sold to the company," Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarksi said.
"There is no panic in the town (of Sopot), there is no danger of new explosions," Sopot mayor Vesselin Lichev said after the explosion, according to Reuters. Bulgarian authorities have launched an investigation into cause of explosion.
