Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has expressed grave concern over the incident at the army ammunition depot in south Kashmir and asked the civil administration and army authorities to ensure that the situation was put under control soon and evacuated population provided adequate shelter and food.
As the news of the incident broke, the chief minister got in touch with senior army and civil administration officers to ascertain details about the extent of the incident and welfare of the people within and outside the depot.
He asked them to shift civilians in the area to safer places and arrange adequate shelter, food and drinking water for them.
The chief minister asked the administration to ensure that people do not go near the site of the incident and take every precaution that no human life was lost due to negligence.
"We have successfully evacuated more than 25,000 villagers from around 14 villages in the vicinity of the FOD where a huge conflagration is still raging with explosions now being heard as far as 7 kms away from the depot site," a senior police officer said.
"We have lodged the evacuated civilians in schools buildings and tents that have been erected for the purpose away from the camp," he added.
He said two loud explosions inside the heavily guarded FOD triggered the fire early this morning, which spread in the depot instantaneously, resulting in series of explosions which are continuing till now.
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