PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY/VLADIVOSTOK, October 1 (RIA Novosti, Oksana Guseva, Anatoly Ilyukhov) -- Friday night, artillery ammunition slated to be scrapped caught fire at Russia's Pacific Fleet technical supply base, to the north of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Igor Dygalo, assistant Navy commander-in-chief, said Saturday.
As of 09.20 Moscow time, the fire was of medium intensity, while there was no danger of its spreading outside the base. Experts believe it will take at least a day to extinguish it completely.
Shell fragments at the scene of the accident were flying to a range of up to 4 km.Local authorities closed Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky airport, thus cutting the peninsula off from the mainland.
All residents living within 15 km around the base were evacuated to the town of Elizovo. In all, about 7,500 people live in the area, the Emergency Situations Ministry Kamchatka Territorial Administration said.
According to preliminary reports, one person was injured with flying glass shards.
The Military Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation. "Special attention will be given to the theory that the fire may have been caused by arson designed to cover up the theft of ammunition," a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet Prosecutor's Office said.
"In February 2005, a military court convicted Rear Adm. Valery Moiseenko, former chief of the Pacific Fleet Missile and Artillery Directorate, on charges of dereliction of duty, which caused a fire and an explosion at an arms depot near the town of Taezhnoe, Maritime Territory, in 2003," the press service said.
