Revealing the initial cause of the horrific explosion in Bac Ninh

Regarding the explosion in Quan Do village, Van Mon commune, Yen Phong district (Bac Ninh): Bac Ninh Provincial Police and Yen Phong district authorities are continuing to inspect and organize the signing of commitments with 157 households in Van Mon commune not to purchase or store defense scrap.

Currently, the authorities continue to search for and collect metal fragments after the explosion, clean up village roads and alleys in Quan Do village and neighboring villages; at the same time, announce on local media for households to report damage to their houses and other properties to the authorities.

After the explosion, public opinion believed that there were still some "warehouses" of explosives hidden by people in the village. Bac Ninh Provincial Police coordinated with functional forces of the Ministry of National Defense to review and inspect all suspicious locations, especially the scrap warehouse.

As of January 5, the authorities determined that, apart from the scrap "warehouse" of Mr. Nguyen Van Tien's family, 53 years old, in Quan Do village, Van Mon, Yen Phong district (the subject has been prosecuted for the act of illegally storing and trading military weapons according to Clause 3, Article 304, Penal Code 2015), no other area containing the above type of scrap has been discovered.

The Engineering Command has established a working group to inspect the scene and work with the Bac Ninh Provincial Military Command to determine the initial cause of the explosion. At the same time, it mobilized specialized engineering forces from Brigade 229, Obstacle Engineering Battalion 93 and the Bomb and Mine Disposal Technology Center to coordinate with the Bac Ninh Provincial Military Command to handle the incident, continue to collect the remaining explosives scattered at the scene, and prevent the explosion from spreading and causing further consequences.

Through survey and information from households around the scene, it was known that before the explosion, the owner of the scrap yard had collected various types of ammunition, stacked them into blocks, and sprinkled salt on them to destroy them with the aim of collecting the metal for recycling. Initially, the working group determined that the explosion was caused by a large amount of ammunition, including 23mm, 14.5mm, and 12.7mm ammunition (mostly 12.7mm ammunition), possibly mixed with phosphorus ammunition, causing fire and detonation of the entire ammunition block.

At the investigation agency, Mr. Nguyen Van Tien also confessed that after purchasing the above scrap, to save time and effort in collecting metal for recycling, he sprinkled salt on the bullet shells to quickly oxidize.

P. Thuy