Centre sends fact-finding team to gutted Kashmir arms depot

The Centre has sent a four-member fact-finding team to Kashmir to investigate the Khundroo ammunition depot fire in Anantnag in which twenty one people died, including army personnel, firefighters and civilians.

New Delhi, Aug 21: The Centre has sent a four-member fact-finding team to Kashmir to investigate the Khundroo ammunition depot fire in Anantnag in which twenty one people died, including army personnel, firefighters and civilians.

The team is led by Joint Secretary (Ordnance) in the Defence Ministry, Binoy Kumar, and includes a high level official from the Union Home Ministry.

Thee cause into the August 11 fire that destroyed close to 1300 crores worth of ammunition is still not clear. Though militant groups in the valley lined up to claim attacking the depot with rocket launchers, the Army has rejected sabotage angle into the incident.

"The team will look into various aspects of the mishap, especially those related to safety and security of the personnel and civilian population living in and around the depot area," a senior official of the Defence Ministry said.

Almost a week later after the fire broke out; the army was able to begin a major mopping operation to clear up the gutted arms depot of hundreds of hazardous rockets, artillery shells and bombs.

The fire and subsequent blast resulted in the spread of a large stockpile of arsenal across Khundroo village and surrounding areas.

One soldier died during the mopping up operations last Friday.

Around 500 army personnel, paramilitary forces, and a member of bomb disposal squads were pushed into service to sanitize the affected areas, and hundreds of locals were evacuated to safer areas, where the civil administration and the Army set up makeshift relief camps.

ANI