Five teams of experts started on July 4 examining the damages caused by explosions in an army warehouse used for storing about 1500 tons of conventional shells and cartridges near Sofia. The explosions started at 6.30am on July 3 2008 and continued until 8pm the same day.

No one was injured, but houses in the villages of Chelopechene, Kazichene, Botunets and Chepintsi amd Sofia's Kremikovtzi neighbourhood suffered damages.

The teams will look for broken windows, doors and damaged roofs, Bulgarian news agency BTA said. People will be compensated as soon as possible, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

No leakage of noxious gasses was registered by the authorities on July 4. Sofia city hall has ordered for streets to be washed after the incident that caused the panic among local population.

On the second day after the explosions, Defence Minister Nikolai Tsonev asked for the resignation of Lieutenant General Rumen Tsokov, the deputy head of the Bulgarian Army Chief of Staff, who was in charge of army resources.

The warehouse which is just outside Chelopechene village is owned by Bulgarian Army.

Hours after the explosions started it was announced that military prosecutors had started two probes on suspicions of misuse of ammunitions. At first, Tsonev said he was not aware of the checks, but later confirmed for them.

It also became clear that Bulgarska Armia  newspaper, Bulgarian Army's mouthpiece, has published an article on the warehouse earlier in June in which it warned about what might happen to the shells at the warehouse. The article claimed that they warehouse have been flooded in 2005.