A powerful explosion, followed by several aftershocks, rocked a warehouse belonging to the Bulgarian company EMKO in the town of Belitsa on Monday. The warehouse is owned by businessman Emilian Gebrev, known for supplying weapons to Ukraine and for surviving a 2015 assassination attempt with the nerve agent Novichok.

RELATED:

Kremlin Welcomes Bulgarian Leader’s Call for Dialogue With Russia

The blast occurred around 8:00 GMT (11:00 local time) and could be felt within a 15-kilometer radius, according to several Bulgarian media outlets and local residents interviewed by international news agencies. Huge plumes of smoke rose from the area, according to images broadcast by the state television network BNT.

Authorities Suspect Accident

Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdziev stated that the explosion was most likely an accident. The official confirmed that there were no reported injuries and announced that preparations were underway to evacuate residents of villages near the plant.

Some 300 workers from the weapons and ammunition factory were evacuated, according to regional administration sources cited by BNT. The EMKO company also confirmed in a statement that there were no casualties.

According to initial reports, the explosion originated in a tanker truck that caught fire and sparked a blaze in one of the ammunition depots, leading to the subsequent detonations.

Emergency Evacuations Ordered After Powerful Blast Rocks Bulgarian Defense Depot

Secondary explosions destroy an ammunition warehouse at the EMCO weapons plant in Belitsa following a vehicle fire in the yard. #EuroPost pic.twitter.com/cKUaVXyqpy

— EuroPost Agency (@EuroPostAgency) August 10, 2026

In its statement, the company ruled out human error as the cause of the explosion. “In the past 15 years, similar incidents have occurred at other defense equipment manufacturers, including the state-owned VMZ Sopot factory in the spring of 2015,” the company stated.

The incident has reignited scrutiny of the Gebrev facility, which is closely linked to military supplies to Ukraine. In 2023, an EMKO plant in Karnobat suffered an explosion while storing munitions destined for Ukraine. The businessman himself ruled out the possibility of an accident or human error at the time. A year earlier, the same factory had already experienced another fire.

In addition, Gebrev stored ammunition destined for Ukraine in a warehouse in the Czech Republic that suffered an explosion in 2014. Subsequently, in April 2015, the businessman was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, the same substance used in the attempted assassination of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, UK, in 2018.

Bulgarian authorities are continuing their investigation to determine the exact causes of the incident in Belitsa, while safety protocols are being implemented in the surrounding areas. So far, no alternative hypothesis to an accident has been put forward, although the history of incidents at facilities linked to Gebrev continues to keep the country’s security agencies on high alert.

#Bulgaria | Mihaela Dotsova from the Progressive Bulgaria, the largest parliamentary group, was elected as chairperson of the Bulgarian National Assembly. She got the support from 188 members of the 240-seat legislature, while 49 abstained.https://t.co/sjLoEmJTyz pic.twitter.com/MVObUS98VF

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) May 1, 2026

From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.