Maracay, Venezuela - A fire and a series of explosions tore through a military arms depot on Sunday, killing one person and leading authorities to evacuate thousands of people.
About 10 000 residents fled their homes in areas up to several kilometres from the site as the burning ammunition produced powerful blasts, officials said.
The cause of the pre-dawn fire was unclear. Hours after the initial explosions, faint booms could still be heard in the distance as clouds of white smoke rose from the area alongside hills in Maracay, 100 kilometres west of Caracas.
“It's under control but there is still risk,” President Hugo Chavez said as he visited firefighters and other officials in Maracay. He noted that the blasts hurled some explosives such as grenades long distances into surrounding communities, and urged caution.
Officials were searching nearby neighbourhoods for any stray explosives, Aragua state Governor Rafael Isea told the state-run Venezuelan News Agency.
Chavez praised officials for a swift response. “An event like this could have produced ... a much bigger tragedy,” he said.
Chavez wondered aloud what might have caused it, saying: “A fire there is odd, and at that hour.”
Vice President Elias Jaua said earlier on state television that authorities were investigating - and suggested they weren't ruling out sabotage.
“We can't rule out any hypothesis since Venezuela is a country threatened by strong international powers,” Jaua said. “We know of groups that act in a crazy manner within our territory, but it can't be determined yet if it was provoked or if it was an accident.” He did not elaborate.
One woman in a house was killed by a piece of shrapnel that wounded her in the abdomen, the Attorney General's Office said in a statement.
Three people were injured in traffic accidents amid the chaos as people fled, Isea said.
“It seemed like they were bombing us,” said Yandry Rey, 30, who lives with her husband, a military officer, and two children in housing adjacent to the munitions storage area.
She said the explosions shook her house and woke her up, and that they fled with their children. Rey said she saw a “ball of fire” when she opened the door.
Hours later, she and several other people who fled the military housing complex were resting on the edge of a ditch in the shade. Rey's daughter still wore her nightshirt.
Another woman, 27-year-old Genesis Baricot, said her husband returned to their house and saw that the blasts had blown off their front door and caused part of the roof in the kitchen to collapse.
She said she didn't yet know where the family would go.
“What are they going to do with us?” she asked.
Soldiers and police blocked exits on a major highway that runs nearby.
Thousands of evacuees were taken to a sports stadium, a military barracks and a park, emergency management director Luis Diaz told state television.
Chavez said the evacuees included Chinese and Russians who were working on projects in the area. He said the Russians were building a rifle factory. He did not elaborate on what the Chinese were involved in.
National Guard Major General Luis Motta Dominguez said in remarks broadcast by Union Radio that authorities were waiting for the smaller blasts to die down and that what was left was “a lot of smoke.”
State TV showed firefighters working to extinguish what remained of the fire.
Cavim, Venezuela's military arms manufacturer, said in a statement that the explosions began at 4.45am local time.
The fire burned four artillery-munitions storage sites out of 20 that Cavim maintains in Maracay, General Cliver Alcala Cordones told the state news agency. - Sapa-AP