Fears for 35 missing people after explosion at ammunition depot

Explosions were today rocking an ammunition depot in Russia, and a news agency quoted a regional governor as saying 35 people were missing.

Television networks were broadcasting footage showing intermittent explosions sending flames and thick smoke into the sky over the military facility in the Ulyanovsk province, a few hundred miles east of Moscow.

The provincial government said the blasts and fire persisted hours after first erupting while ammunition was being destroyed at the arsenal.

The Interfax news agency quoted regional governor Sergei Morozov as saying 35 workers were missing, 10 people have been taken to hospital and some 3,000 civilians have been evacuated from the area.