The death toll from a series of explosions at a fireworks depot near Bulgaria's capital Sofia has risen to four, with investigators recovering two more bodies from the site on Sunday. The bodies are believed to be the 22-year-old son of the depot owner and a 60-year-old employee, who had been missing since the series of blasts at six warehouses near the small town of Elin Pelin, just outside Sofia, on Thursday evening. Authorities had been seeking information on the exact number of people inside the warehouses at the time of the explosions.
The public prosecutor's office announced that two burnt bodies were found at the accident site, presumably of the two men known to have been in the warehouses when the accident occurred. The bodies have yet to be identified. Previously, the deaths of a 49-year-old pyrotechnics expert at the company and his 20-year-old daughter, who had been receiving hospital treatment for severe burns and smoke inhalation, were reported. A night guard and a young man who were also there managed to escape unscathed.
Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov informed journalists that explosive experts had entered the area and secured one warehouse that had not been affected by the explosions. The fortified building contains large stocks of professional pyrotechnics, and fears that it might explode prompted the authorities to issue an alert and order the partial evacuation of a nearby village. The 150 people who had to leave their homes on Thursday night were allowed to return on Friday.
