Uzbekistan, Tashkent, 18 July / corr. Trend T.Zhukov / Islam Kerimov, the Uzbek President, visited Kagan city, which was damaged as a result of blasts happened at ammunition depot in the evening of 10 July. Head of state presided over a meeting of the governmental commission held in Kagan, the Uzbek President's Administration said. The meeting focused on reports of the heads of relevant ministries and departments about the work aimed at revealing the reasons of extraordinary incident, as well as, measures to remove its outcomes.
"Careful reasoning, exact analysis and implementation of work on the base of strict norms are of great importance," the Uzbek President said. "First, we should pay attention to the security of people, who live near the place of this incident, and servicemen, who carry out their service duties. The main reason of this incident is that ammunition depot, which was built during the Soviet period, did not correspond to standard requirements, specified for such properties. Unfortunately, the Defense Ministry has not paid due attention and responsibility for the state of this ammunition and shell depot," the President stressed.
At present the government commission, including heads of governments, national security service and Prosecutor General Office, is working at the place of extraordinary incident. The Defense Ministry, the Emergency Situation Ministry and the Interior Ministry are conducting work to stabilize the situation, to ensure necessary security measures and to render aid to injured people.
According to the Uzbek President, relevant organizations, first of all, the Defense Ministry did not control enough the state of the depot, conditions to protect battle shells, ammunition and explosive substances and did not keep order and discipline at the required level and did not foresee possibility of danger. "They showed connivance in selecting and placing commanders and servicemen of the units, who ensured protection and security of such an important unit," Kerimov stated.
"Currently, investigation is being held by the Prosecutor General's Office and the relevant organizations to reveal the reasons of the extraordinary incident happened in Kagan District and to define damage. Our objective is to set truth and to take all necessary measures to prevent similar uncommon situations," the Uzbek President said.
The head of state visited the military helicopter unit, which was located at the damaged territory, and got familiarization with conditions offered to servicemen. The President was interested in the service and family life of servicemen during the talks with them.
According to official data, blasts at the missile and artillery depot in Kagan killed three people and wounded more than 20 people. About 20 properties of national economy, which were located close to epicenter, collapsed partially or fully.
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