Missile Explosion Starts Fire at Military Base

A Russian air defense missile exploded at a military base near Moscow, spilling burning fuel and destroying a dozen of the costly rockets, military officials said. No one was hurt in the explosion and fire.

Col. Vyacheslav Sedov said the trouble began with a short circuit that set the engine of an S-300 surface-to-air missile ablaze. The ensuing blast spread burning missile fuel, and it took firefighters several hours to put out the fire, he said. The missile’s conventional warhead did not go off, he said.

The base is close to the village of Zakharovo near Moscow.