Explosion hits another EMCO weapons site in Bulgaria; probe underway

SOFIA, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Bulgaria is investigating the cause of a fire at a weapons storage facility operated by EMCO, including the possibility of sabotage and a link to a previous blaze at another of the company’s facilities in August, the interior minister said.    

No injuries were reported in the fire, which broke out near the village of Tsareva Livada and lit up the night sky, according to videos broadcast locally. The incident came weeks after an explosion and fire at another EMCO weapons depot in western Bulgaria.

Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev told journalists on Saturday that the fire was under control and that an investigation was underway.

“We will review previous cases in which similar fires occurred in the warehouses of this company, as well as at other companies, in order to look for a possible connection or a similar pattern,” he said.

“We are not ruling out outside interference.”

EMCO later said in a statement that the fire was the result of sabotage, citing more than 10 similar incidents at Bulgarian defence firms since 2011, although it did not identify any suspects.

“There is no reason to assume that this case is any different,” the company said.

EMCO is run by Bulgarian arms trader Emilian Gebrev, who Bulgarian prosecutors have previously alleged was the target of attacks on his facilities by Russian operatives. 

In 2024, Bulgaria issued arrest warrants for six Russian citizens accused of involvement in the destruction of EMCO arms depots that stored munitions destined for export to Ukraine and Georgia between 2011 and 2020.

Prosecutors at the time said they had grounds to suspect links between the blasts in Bulgaria, an attempted poisoning of Gebrev in 2015, and munitions depot explosions in the Czech Republic in 2014.    

Moscow has dismissed the allegations.

Slavcho Dimiev, manager of EMCO’s production facilities, confirmed Saturday’s fire at the storage site, which he said mainly holds ammunition, including a small quantity of medium-calibre rounds.

The company also accused authorities of failing to adequately protect defence facilities.

“Not a single investigation into the more than ten such incidents at the industry’s leading enterprises has been concluded,” the company said, adding that its warehouse has been inspected seven times since the beginning of the year, with the last one 20 days prior.

Demerdzhiev expressed concerns about the security and the conditions under which explosives are stored and the way these facilities are guarded.

The blast comes at a time of flux in Bulgarian politics after Prime Minister Rumen Radev came to power in April on a Kremlin-friendly ticket.But in June, the newly appointed defence minister, Dimitar Stoyanov, said Bulgaria would no longer provide arms to Ukraine and urged Moscow and Kyiv to sit down at the negotiating table to end the war.

(Reporting by Alex Lefkowitz and Stoyan Nenov. Writing by Lefteris Papdimas. Editing by Edward McAllister, Mark Potter and Louise Heavens)