An explosion occurred this morning at the Military Testing Institute “Zahorie“ in the Bratislava region, confirmed to the Slovak news agency TASR, spokesperson for the Emergency Medical Operations Center Danka Chapakova.
“Based on a signal from the emergency phone, shortly after 8:15 this morning we sent ambulances and a helicopter to the Military Testing Institute “Zahorie“, where, according to initial information, there was an explosion. "We will provide further information only after the rescue operation is over," Chapakova said, adding that paramedics transported two people to hospitals in Bratislava after providing them with first aid on the spot.
The Bratislava Regional Police said on social media that they received information about the incident shortly before 9:00 a.m. and that two people were found injured at the scene. Police will provide further information as soon as possible.
Žujána Gegusová, a spokeswoman for the fire department, confirmed that the explosion occurred within the institute and that firefighters were called to the scene.
Later, Slovakia's Defense Minister Robert Kaliniak said on social media that today's explosion occurred during a test launch. According to him, the police are already on the scene to investigate what happened.
“We will inform the media later about the condition of the injured“, he added.
One of the injured was admitted to the private "Bori" hospital in Bratislava, and the second patient was taken to the capital's state hospital "Kramare". Dr. Dušan Matežička, head of the traumatology department at "Bori" hospital, said at a press conference that the patient he was caring for was in stable condition and conscious.
Kalinjak said that the causes of the incident were being clarified. He did not rule out a mistake, but according to him, there was nothing to suggest this at the moment. According to him, the incident occurred during stress tests of a howitzer during firing. "A very important piece of information is that the ammunition itself did not explode in the incident, which would have had much more serious consequences," he said.