Moscow - Firefighters succeeded early Saturday in containing a fire at a military munitions depot in western Russia, which left at least two soldiers dead and 44 injured. An explosion Friday night caused the fire that sparked further massive explosions for several hours afterwards, with flames rising over the city of Ulyanovsk, some 900 kilometres east of Moscow.
The fire spread over an area of around 800 square metres. The Defence Ministry confirmed that two soldiers were killed in the fire that followed a blast "apparently during the disposal of ammunition".
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a probe into the incident.
Around 3,000 people living near the base were evacuated from the area by local authorities and the area of up to 7 kilometres around the accident site was blocked off.
At least one injured person remained in critical condition. Forty- three servicemen, who had been reported missing earlier, were rescued from a bomb shelter where they had hidden from the flames.
Officials stressed that no chemical weapons were stored at the facility.
