Moscow: Five people were killed and nine injured as explosions ripped through a huge ammunition depot in Ukraine, forcing the authorities to evacuate thousands of people and declare a red alert at an atomic power plant situated 40 kilometres away.

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A fire broke out at the depot near Melitopol city in Southeastern Ukraine yesterday (May 6, 2004), triggering explosions, which continued for the second day today (May 7, 2004), officials said.

The authorities evacuated 10,000 residents of 15 nearby villages, as blasts wiped out half of the nearby town of Fyodorovka including a local railway station, gas pipeline and an oil depot.

The red alert was sounded at the Zaparozhye atomic power plant just 40 kilometres away as artillery rockets with the range of up to 70 km are stored in the ammunition dump, they said.

Emergency officials said the disaster has claimed five lives and injured nine others.

Fire tenders and rescue teams have been concentrated 35 kilometres from the burning depot as massive rain of burning ammunition prevented their advance, media reports said.

Meanwhile, Russia has despatched a high level military team to assist Ukrainian Army in tackling the disaster.

Russian TV channels reported that 60 metre-high blaze could be seen over the ammunition dump, which could burn for a whole week.