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1st LD: At least one killed in gunpowder plant fire in central Russia

Xinhua, March 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

A fire at a gunpowder plant in central Russia killed at least one person and injured three others on Friday, the local administration said.

The fire took place at the Tambov Gunpowder Plant in the town of Kotovsk, some 15 km from Tambov, the regional capital of Tambov Oblast and harbor of the Tambov base.

Four of the injured with bad burns have been taken to a hospital in Tambov, some 480 km southeast of Moscow, and the fifth one is in a hospital in Kotovsk, according to a statement on the website of Tambov Region Administration.

Earlier reports said two people were killed and three others were injured.

According to the statement, the fire started at 12:41 Moscow time (GMT 0941) at one of the workshops of the plant during the production process, and extended to an area of 150 square meters.

The fire has been extinguished, and investigators are working at the site, Yuri Kuzmenko, head of the Tambov Region Department of Security and Law Enforcement, said in the statement.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.

The Tambov Gunpowder Plant, built in 1915, is one of the largest producers of ammunition and special chemicals in Russia.

On Sept. 30, 2015, a blast at the plant's air-drying workshop killed two people and injured three others.

Breach of security regulations is often blamed for fires and explosions in Russia. Endi