Residents of the village of Chelopechene can return to their homes as the area is now safe and in no danger from the blasts rocking the nearby amunition warehouses, Defence Minister Nikolai Tsonev told reporters late in the afternoon on July 3 2008, emerging from an emergency meeting of Parliament's internal security and public order committee.

Villagers from Chepintsi, the other village in the immediate vicinity of the amunition depot, however, will have to wait longer until the area is secured, he added.

Within a week, the ministry will submit to Parliament a report on other amunition depots in the country, Tsonev said.

Amunition from four warehouses have been detonating since around 6.30am on July 3, the ministry said in the statement published on its website. The warehouses were used to store close to 1500 tons of expired cartridges and conventional shells.

Opposition MP Assen Agov, from Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria rightist party, said that the ministry had the funds to safely dispose of obsolete amunition, having been allocated 35 million leva to that end. The money was there but has not been used, which could have prevented the events on July 3, he said.

Agov estimated the damages caused by the blasts at 10 million leva, though he did not say on what data his estimate was based.

Authorities have been criticised for their slow response time in dealing with the emergency, so a legislative review of existing legislation on the role and duties of local administration in such situations has been planned.

Disaster Management Minister Emel Etem, who received the largest share of the blame, especially from Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov, has shifted it back on local authorities, however.

 "The law was not duly observed by the local authorities. Ministry teams reacted swiftily and successfully in the morning, but can you imagine what would have happened if the event was far from Sofia and some mayor would have forgotten to organise a crisis cell," shesaid, as quoted by Focus news agency.