Even more dangerous than hexogen…

PRAVDA.Ru correspondent to Ukraine Alexander Gorobets informs, an explosion of eight tons of gun powder has been prevented in the center of Ukrainian town of Kremenchug

The other day an extraordinary accident occurred in the town of Kremenchug, the Poltava region, Ukraine. A MAZ, enormous high-powered lorry rushed along the central street of the town. Officers of the traffic control department noticed the lorry at once. The driver was drunk, and an armed security man by his side was also dead drunk. The search revealed, eight tons of gun powder was transported in the lorry in defiance of the regulations on transportation of dangerous goods. If the gun powder detonated, the whole of the town wold blow up.

According to the experts’ estimates, the radius of the bast wave would reach about 60 km, and the depth of hole caused by the explosion would make up not less than 8-10 meters.

The eight tons of gun powder (it is equivalent to two tons of TNT) had been quite legally sold to the enterprise Zapadvzryvprom (the Kiev region) by the Kremenchug artillery storehouse. But the transportation of the cargo was obviously dangerous. The open lorry was not equipped for transportation of explosive materials, but also had several technical disrepair. According to the regulations on explosives transportation, the gun powder was to have been hermetically packed. But instead, the explosive material was packed in ordinary sacks. Even a slight cigarette spark could cause an explosion. In addition, to transport such goods along the central street, a special permission is to be obtained from the traffic control department. A special escort is usually designed for such operations.

Local police informs, the dangerous cargo was returned to the artillery storehouse. The military prosecutor’s office will start investigation of the accident.

Alexander Gorobets PRAVDA.Ru Ukraine

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/03/16/38300.html