Negligence leads to massive explosion and fire that kills 15 at gunpowder-making factory in Russia

In the village of Lesnoy, the Ryazan region of Russia, an explosion took place in the morning of October 22, on the territory of the Elastic plant. The territory of the plant was taken by gunpowder-making company Razryad.

Fifteen people were killed in the explosion and ensuing fire. At the time of the incident, there were 17 people working in the workshop.

Photographs released from the site of the incident show that the building suffered severe damage. It was reported that the explosion most likely occurred due to a disruption of the technological process.

During the last inspection, Rostekhnadzor specialists (Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Oversight of Russia) revealed violations in the shop and pointed out insufficient arrangement of storage of explosive materials and spills of gunpowder on the floor.

The plant, where the explosion took place, was declared bankrupt and rented to other companies.

The website of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Synthetic Fibers Plant Elastic says that in 2015, the arbitration court declared the enterprise bankrupt and opened bankruptcy proceedings against it. In this regard, production activities on the territory of the plant were suspended.

The workshop, in which the explosion and fire occurred, belongs to Razryad LLC. The company is engaged in the disposal of ammunition, the production, storage and distribution of industrial explosives, implements works using information constituting a state secret, as well as the transportation of hazardous industrial facilities.