NUR-SULTAN, Aug 27 - A series of explosions caused by fire at a military base in central Asia killed four servicemen and more than 60 people wounded, officials in southern Kazakhstan said on Friday.
What caused Thursday's fire in the factory in the district of Zhambyl where engineering explosives were stored, Defence Minister Nurlan Yermekbayev said in a briefing. The soldiers died while trying to put out the fire which triggered a series of ten blasts, he added, saying stored explosives had come from a facility in the town of Arys after a similar February 2019 event that killed four people.
Authorities evacuated hundreds of people from the nearby area and closed the main road linking the province to Almaty's biggest city.
Reporting by Clarence Fernandez; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov and Editing by Tamara Vaal.