An explosion caused a fire at a weapons warehouse in central Bulgaria overnight, marking the second such incident in the country in as many weeks. The incident occurred near the village of Tsareva Livada, and no injuries were reported so far. The governor of the Gabrovo region, Kristina Sidorova, said the fire had engulfed the factory’s warehouse area and that flames were spreading from one warehouse to another.

According to local media, citing an EMCO official, the fire broke out in a facility managed by the company. Another explosion at an EMCO facility was reported last month.

EMCO is run by Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, who has been linked by Bulgarian authorities to attacks on the company's facilities in the past. In 2024, Bulgaria issued arrest warrants for six Russian nationals suspected of involvement in explosions that destroyed EMCO warehouses between 2011 and 2020. These facilities stored ammunition destined for export to Ukraine and Georgia.

Bulgarian prosecutors have previously said they suspect a link between the ammunition depot explosions, the 2015 Gebrev poisoning attempt and the 2014 ammunition depot explosions in the Czech Republic. It is not yet known whether the latest explosion is linked to these earlier cases.