Fire breaks out at DRDO’s Chandipur complex

Bhubaneshwar, April 29: A

broke out in an underground magazine store of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (

) at Chandipur on Monday morning, triggering a string of explosions.

"The fire triggered explosions as it erupted in the magazine store of the Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE), where shells and ammunition of different capacities and sizes are stored for test," officer in-charge of Chandipur police station P.K. Acharya said.

No casualty was reported so far and over a dozen fire tenders were pressed into service to control the blaze, he said, adding that the entire complex was sealed.

Officials of PXE, which is located near the premier missile trial centre Integrated Test Range (ITR), were tight-lipped about the incident but said immediate steps were taken to contain the fire and prevent its spread.

"The fire was restricted to the underground magazine store and no other facility inside the PXE complex was affected due to the incident," they said.

The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained and further details were awaited.

PTI