Colombia Ammunition
Depot Explodes, Six
Missing
Six soldiers are missing
and eight others injured
after an ammunition
depot blew up at a
military garrison in
Colombia, an army
general said, correcting
an earlier report that
said two people had
died.
General Roberto Pico
said government
investigators had
determined that "six
servicemen were missing
and eight were wounded,
six of whom are in
stable condition and
their lives no longer at
risk".
Civil Defence chief
Alfredo Munoz earlier
reported two people
killed and six injured
in the blast, adding
that more explosions
could be heard at the
depot, outside the
north-west city Medellin.
General Pico said "there
was an accident inside
an ammunition depot" of
an artillery batallion
"apparently caused by a
hand grenade".
Press reports in
Medellin said the
initial huge blast set
off a more explosions
and a fire in the
arsenal that
firefighting crews and
two army helicopters
took eight hours to put
out.
Authorities said nearby
homes were evacuated as
a precaution.
A huge pall of smoke
could be seen on
television over the
garrison, which is
located in one of
several mountain
villages surrounding
Medellin, 400 kilometres
north-west of Bogota.
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