Bulgaria ammo site fire draws EMCO sabotage claim

Bulgarian arms maker EMCO accused authorities of failing to tackle sabotage against defence facilities after explosions and a fire broke out late Friday at one of its ammunition storage sites near the central village of Gorni Varpishta.

Police said no casualties were reported, and workers were evacuated from the site. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said the blaze began in one warehouse and triggered explosions, but there was no danger of it spreading.

“All hypotheses are on the table and we are examining them carefully,” Demerdzhiev said. He said the warehouse, which contained munition rounds and other explosive materials, had shortcomings including poor security.

EMCO said the warehouse had been regularly inspected by authorities and was not in breach of rules. The company said security outside ammunition depots was the responsibility of the state, and said similar recent incidents had been caused by “external forces”. It said there was no chance human error was behind the latest incident.

EMCO accused the authorities of not doing enough to address what it called a spate of “sabotage” against defence facilities in Bulgaria, a NATO member and supporter of Ukraine.

President Iliana Iotova said Saturday she was considering convening Bulgaria's national security council, a presidential advisory body that brings together senior political, security and defence officials.

The incident came about a month after a fire at an ammunition depot at another nearby EMCO site. EMCO is owned by Bulgarian defence executive Emilian Gebrev, who survived a poisoning attempt in 2015 with his son and another company executive. Bulgarian prosecutors have charged three Russian nationals over the poisoning.

Separately, six Russians have been charged with terrorism over four explosions at arms facilities in Bulgaria between 2011 and 2020. Authorities suspect those incidents were aimed at disrupting arms supplies, including to Ukraine.