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An explosion triggered a fire at a weapons storage site in central Bulgaria overnight into September 12, authorities and local media reported.
The fire broke out near the village of Tsareva Livada. No injuries were reported. Videos broadcast by local media showed flames and a large glow illuminating the night sky.
“At the moment, the fire is on the territory of the storage base of the factory. It is moving from warehouse to warehouse,” Gabrovo regional governor Kristina Sidorova told journalists in the early hours of Saturday.
Local media reported that the site is operated by EMCO, which is owned by arms dealer Emilian Gebrev. The company is a major supplier of Soviet-standard ammunition, including 122 mm and 152 mm artillery shells, rockets and mortar rounds, to Ukrainian forces.
Because domestic political friction in Bulgaria initially blocked direct military aid to Ukraine, EMCO funneled billions of dollars’ worth of ammunition to Kyiv’s forces through third-party NATO intermediaries in the U.S., Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic.
The incident follows an August 10 fire and series of explosions at another EMCO facility near the village of Belitsa in central Bulgaria. That incident caused no deaths or injuries, but destroyed a warehouse and prompted the evacuation of nearby residents. Bulgarian authorities said an initial assessment pointed more toward an internal cause than an external attack.
EMCO has been linked to a series of explosions and fires at weapons storage facilities in Bulgaria in recent years. Major blasts struck company warehouses in the town of Karnobat in July 2022 and June 2023.
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