Myanmar gunpowder blast ‘not sabotage’

An explosion and fire at a gunpowder warehouse in Myanmar’s main city of Yangon, also known as Rangoon, has killed at least 17 people and injured 80.

By morning, the scale of the damage gave some indication of the power of the blast.

Authorities do not believe it was sabotage. One former official said he thought the gunpowder was used in the country’s mines, not to make arms.

The explosion happened in the early hours of the morning in the east of Yangon, the former capital and the main commercial centre in Myanmar, which many still refer to as Burma.

Three firemen were among the dead. A taxi driver who witnessed the explosion said it was like a volcanic eruption from the movies.

The fire quickly spread and took hours to bring under control. An earlier report that a nearby shipyard also caught fire has not been confirmed. Some of the victims are thought to have been killed by flying debris.

Copyright © 2012 euronews