The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has commenced an investigation into an ordnance explosion that occurred on Saturday at the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) in Kaduna.

DHQ spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Tukur Gusau said in a statement that the incident led to the death of one person while others sustained injuries.

“The DHQ has ordered a thorough investigation to ascertain the immediate cause of the incident and to prevent a recurrence,” he said.

He stated that the explosion occurred during the destruction of expired ordnance materials, including ammonium nitrate, primer caps, propellants, and other hazardous substances.

According to him, the injured are receiving treatment at the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna.

Mr Gusau said the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, had commiserated with the family of the deceased and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

He assured the public that the situation was under control and posed no threat to surrounding communities, adding that DICON maintained strict operational safety standards.

DICON said in a statement earlier that the explosion occurred at its Ordnance Factory Disposal pit.

“Some old storage bunkers used to store raw materials for production contained several expired materials for production that had exceeded their lifespans, including a large quantity of ammonia, nitrates, primer caps, propellants, and others,” DICON said in a statement by its spokesperson, Maria Sambo.

She said DICON had earlier initiated efforts since July to ensure the controlled disposal of the expired items and successfully destroyed all the ammonia nitrates and the majority of other items.

“However, the unfortunate accident of the explosion occurred while specialists were concluding the destruction of the remaining quantity of the expired items at the disposal pit on September 20,” Ms Sambo partly said.

(NAN)