Gorni Lom

Human error is the most likely cause of the deadly blast in the Midzhur explosives factory in the village of Gorni Lom, which killed 15 people on October 1, said caretaker Interior Minister Yordan Bakalov.

According to Bakalov, some of the people, guilty of the blast are alive and have to be investigated.

At least 38 employees of the Mizdhur explosives factory leveled to the ground by a huge blast last week will be laid off after the incident, authorities say.

Employment office representatives in the town of Belogradchik in Bulgaria's north-west, not far from where the explosion occurred, told Dariknews.bg the workers' contracts are to be suspended within a month.

The managers of the Midzhur factory in the village of Gorni Lom is responsible for the deadly blast, which killed 15 people, the caretaker Minister of Labour and Social Policies Yordan Hristoskov told bTV.

According to him, the management was criminally reckless and ignored the instructions of the Labour Inspectorate and the Hazardous Devices Control (KOS) agency.

Iliyan Mihaylov, Mayor of the northwestern village of Gorni Lom, which was stricken by a deadly explosion at a privately-owned explosives plant, insisted that the factory had to keep functioning due to the staggering unemployment in the area.

A 15-strong team from the National Investigative Service is to have access to the area where an explosion demolished an ammunition factory in Bulgaria's north-west, killing 15 people.

This is the first time anyone, except for a fire-brigade unit using special equipment, will enter the site after the 24-hour ban was lifted on Thursday, 21:00 EEST (19:00 GMT).

Friday, October 3 will be a day of national mourning after the explosion at the Midzhur ammunition factory near the northwestern village of Gorni Lom, the Council of Ministers has announced.

There were fourteen people at the time of the explosion in the ammo factory Midzhur near the village of Gorni Lom in Bulgaria's north-west, witnesses say.

Initial reports suggested fifteen people could have been inside and feared dead, with the Interior Ministry saying there were no signs of life except for a movement of a wild animal detected earlier on Thursday morning.

A specially equipped team of Bulgaria's Ministry of Interior is to enter the site of the explosion near the village of Gorni Lom.

A powerful blast at a privately-owned explosives plant near the northwestern village of Gorni Lom at around 5 pm on Wednesday left 3 injured, with 15 people feared dead.

Bulgaria's caretaker Labor Minister Yordan Hristoskov informed that the explosives factory near the village of Gorni Lom, which was stricken by a powerful blast on Wednesday, had been issued a number of penalty notices.

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The death toll from Wednesday's blast at an explosives factory in northwestern Bulgaria could be as high as 15, according to unofficial estimates.