By Anna Mudeva
SOFIA (Reuters) - A series of powerful explosions rocked anarms disposal depot storing 1,500 tonnes of obsolete munitionsoutside Sofia on Thursday, shaking apartment blocks andpanicking thousands, authorities and eyewitnesses said.
The explosions followed a fire at the complex near thevillage of Chelopechene on the eastern edge of the Bulgariancapital, interior ministry officials said.
They continued for some hours afterwards. But DefenceMinister Nikolai Tsonev later said after an emergency cabinetmeeting that the explosions were slackening.
Guards at the complex, which is attached to a military basethat is being closed down, were evacuated. No casualties orinjuries had been reported so far, Interior Minister MichailMikov told parliament.
Authorities urged Sofia's nearly two million inhabitants tostay calm. Checks showed no harmful emissions in the air andcivil defence officials ruled out any need for a massevacuation of the city.
But Sofia's international airport to the north-east of thecapital was temporarily closed and incoming flights diverted tothe southern city of Plovdiv.
"This morning at 6:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. British time) a firebroke out in the area of Chelopechene and explosions followed,"the emergencies ministry said in a statement.
Most of Chelopechene's 2,000 or so inhabitants and peoplefrom other nearby villages were evacuated or fled their homesin panic, officials and an Reuters eyewitness said.
"We were scared to death," Nadka Doncheva, 61, who lives inthe village, told Reuters. "All the windows are broken."
"The house was shaking. I thought it was an earthquake," atearful woman from Chelopechene told the national radio.
The blasts shook apartment blocks and broke windows ineastern districts of Sofia, eyewitnesses said, and some peopledashed into the streets in panic.
"The threat is over. The danger arising from the 20 tonnesof TNT stored there has passed because it had burnt out,"Tsonev said.
"The explosions are declining. There is no reason forpeople to fear dangerous air pollution," he added.
NATO member Bulgaria is due to destroy some 80,000 to100,000 tonnes of old Soviet-era munitions, officials say.
Bulgaria's biggest steelmaker Kremikovtzi and otherindustrial plants near the site of the explosions were leftwithout electricity and told employees not to show up at work.
(Additional reporting by Tsvetelia Ilieva and Oleg Popov)
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)
