Taiwan's military yesterday ruled out sabotage as the cause of a massive overnight explosion at an ammunition depot on Taiwan's defensive outpost of Matsu, saying the blast probably resulted from deteriorated explosives.
The frontline island just off the coast of Fujian province was rocked by a series of deafening explosions on Wednesday night when discarded weapons and explosives suddenly went off at the Chengkung ammunition depot.
Loud eruptions were heard and fierce flames engulfed the depot throughout the night. All glass windows in the nearby camps and villages were shattered, according to local television reports.
According to witnesses quoted in the reports, thick smoke could be still seen yesterday morning, triggering panic among some residents that the mainland was launching a massive attack on the small islet.
But Shen Hsin-ming, an investigator from the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, said: 'Initial investigations showed that some explosives left in one corner of the depot were unstable and that over-heating set off the dynamite.'
ETToday news channel said a truck by the depot was destroyed by the debris and metal shrapnel landed at a fuel station nearby.
