The blast took place on Wednesday as the soldiers were unloading expired stores of munitions at the Mulinsky base in the Nizhny Novgorod region of central Russia, the ministry said in a statement.
“As a result of the explosion, five soldiers were killed and three were wounded. The injured have been taken to a garrison military hospital,” the statement read.
Fatal accidents are frequent in the Russian armed forces which have struggled to modernize equipment since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
In July 2010, six people were killed in a similar accidental explosion at a Russian military firing range in Siberia.
MSK/JR/HGH
Related posts:
Should we kill the bugs or learn how to live with them?
Thomson case goes to privileges committee
Ron Paul on Pentagon Plans to Attack Syria
Families of Hillsborough victims call on Attorney General to hold fresh inquest into their deaths
NSA Boss Says Agency Does Not Monitor Your Email
Clashes in Kashmir after Sufi shrine fire