At least 14 people have been killed and 11 injured in an explosion at a weapons depot near the Syrian city of Sarmada, according to local health authorities.
The blast struck a temporary storage facility in the Burj al-Nimra area of Idlib province on Wednesday. The site was being used to hold weapons and remnants of war before they were moved elsewhere.
Syria’s Defence Ministry said some of its employees were among those wounded. It said its units were working with other authorities to secure the area after the explosion.
The cause of the initial blast has not been established. Successive explosions reportedly followed, hampering firefighting efforts as thick smoke spread over the site for several hours.
Emergency crews, Civil Defence teams and Syrian Red Crescent responders were sent to the depot, where they searched for people who might have been trapped beneath the rubble.
The death toll was revised upwards as rescue operations continued, with the Idlib Health Directorate describing the figures as a preliminary count.
