Moscow: APC blows up after parade

"It was only by a miracle that an emergency did not happen on the Red Square, where an armored vehicle was passing as part of a column," The Tvoy Den ("Your Day") periodical writes referring to its sources.

The newspaper stressed that an armored personnel carrier (on photo BMD-4 Bakhcha U) blew up after the holiday parade on the Red Square on its way from the Khodyn Field back to its base.

"In the evening the column of armored vehicles headed from Khodyn Field through our street," one of the witnesses of the explosion testified to the newspaper. -"I was armed with a camera in my mobile phone and was filming it from my window on the seventh floor. The sight was breathtaking... What a mighty army we have! All of a sudden I heard a loud blast that made the windows shudder. I even got frightened that they might break... Right after the blast the people standing on the side of the road started scattering in panic.

"Some hatch opened up in the back part of the tank (the youth was sure that the accident happened to a tank), and a big flame burst out. Tank's crew jumped out of the vehicle, and other military men with fire extinguishers already came running to them. They managed to put the flame out right away, and in about a minute and a half or two everything was extinguished completely. I was told that all armored vehicles were at the parade without ammunition. It's scary to even imagine what would have happened had the tank had ammunition in it..."

Reportedly, none of the military or the local bystanders was hurt.

"Most likely, the outburst occurred as a result of a damage of the fuel line," - an expert commented to the newspaper. -"The fuel leaked onto the hot engine. A tiny spark was enough to make it all explode. Fortunately, the explosion didn't happen on the Red Square before the eyes of not just the whole country, but the entire world."

Soon the damaged BMD-4 vehicle was towed by another vehicle, and the column continued on its way. After that a fire engine arrived at the scene and washed the charred leftovers from the pavement.

Department of Monitoring,