In the early afternoon of Thursday 13 August in Colleferro, in the metropolitan city of Rome, a fire broke out for reasons yet to be ascertained, followed by a violent explosion. It happened at the Knds Ammo Italy plant, formerly Simmel Difesa, specialized in the production of ammunition.
In a video taken by some citizens from a distance and then shared on social media, you can see a fire in the distance from which smoke rises and then, suddenly, a very violent explosion that could have been felt miles away.
The accident appears to have occurred in the powder pressing department of the company that produces medium and large caliber ammunition for land and naval defense and solid fuels for aerospace carriers, located in the Quarto Chilometro area, along Via Latina, between Colleferro and Artena. It would have started from a compactor used precisely for pressing.
The first report to the operations room of the Rome police headquarters arrived at 2.45pm today: emergency vehicles and several teams of the fire brigade arrived on site immediately and are still busy making the area safe. According to ANSA sources, there were no injuries or missing people, as the people present in the area were evacuated once the fire alarm was triggered. In October 2007, a strong explosion had already occurred in the same plant, then still Simmel Difesa, causing one death and 13 injured workers.
Investigations are still underway to reconstruct the dynamics of the explosion and establish what caused it: the Carabinieri of Colleferro and the Frascati investigative unit are also present on site for the investigation.
