Gunpowder Smoke

The remains of five persons who died in an explosion which shook Lucani, a small town between Cacak and Uzice were buried on Tuesday, 14 February. The world "remains" should be taken literally in this case: the explosion was heard in Guca, 15 kilometers away, and parts of the victims' bodies were found as far as 700 meters from the scene of the disaster.

The competent bodies issued the usual brief statement, giving only the names of the victims, the time and place of the accident. The Milan Blagojevic chemical industry (military) drive exploded. The following were killed: engineer Dragisa Vulovic (32), manager Petar Jacimovic (38), and three workers: Dusko Vujovic (36), Miroljub Jankovic (47) and Stanko Gavrilovic (43). Technician Snezana Ilic was lucky. She survived the explosion and is recovering in the hospital in Cacak. Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic visited the scene of the explosion, and a military-police team has been sent over to investigate the cause.

The preliminary results of the investigation are somewhat contradictory: in the beginning a "set of unfortunate circumstances" were given as the main cause of the disaster, and a little later the "inexpert and careless handling of explosive materials" and "the human factor" are mentioned, so that it turns out that inexpertness and carelessness can be counted under "unfortunate circumstances". Judging by everything the investigative committee's main goal was to exclude all possibility of sabotage (there was none) and lay all responsibility for the explosion with the victims.

What, in fact, did explode in Lucani? Special industry sources told VREME that the drive processed gunpowder mixtures. Experts say that the riskiest phase in the production of explosives is when the damp gunpowder mass, which is like dough, is passed through enormous rollers in order that the "dough" might be shaped. The gunpowder is damp, but while passing through the rollers it is under great pressure and there is friction, so that the possibility of an explosion is always present. That is why this phase of production is fully automatic and done by remote control. According to regulations, while the rollers are working, no one is allowed in the drive, and staff can enter only when all machines have been switched off and cooled down. And it was precisely this rule that wasn't observed on that fateful Saturday. A relatively simple problem cropped up. It seems that someone couldn't have been bothered to switch off the machines, and the order was given for the door to be opened, and the problem dealt with during the production process. When the doors were opened the gunpowder exploded and even though they were in front of the building, the force of the explosion simply swept the victims away. The consequences of the explosion could have been alleviated if the building housing the equipment had been constructed properly. Such drives have thick walls and a thin roof so that the force of the explosion is directed upwards. The "unfortunate circumstance" in this case was the fact that the roof was thick, so that the blast spread horizontally, enveloping the surrounding area and damaging nearby buildings.

The explosion could have been caused by many things: pressure, or friction caused by the machines, static electricity, a spark from the mechanism which opens the doors, or something that was blown in by the draught... The exact cause will probably never been known. Somebody should be held responsible for allowing such high-risk equipment to be installed and used in an inadequate building. Had the roof been made of lighter materials, five people might still be alive.