Huge explosion at Granada ammunition factory sends smoke over the city and hurts workers

Residents in and around Granada heard the bang and watched a mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke rise over the city just before 9am on Friday October 30. Workers at a 700-year-old munitions factory have since been treated for hearing damage, though nobody has explained what caused the explosion.

The blast came from the factory’s burning area

Emergency services began taking calls at about 8:57am, with the emergency service 112 Andalucía handling more than 30 reports of a loud detonation in El Fargue, the Granada district that is home to the Fábrica de Municiones de Granada (FMG, the Granada munitions factory). Early reports place the explosion in the quemadero (the burning area where waste gunpowder is destroyed), a zone police say is extremely restricted. The shockwave was felt in nearby homes and the bang was heard as far away as La Zubia and Fuente Vaqueros.

At least three workers hurt, none seriously

Police first reported two people with minor injuries, both with hearing damage. However, the trade union UGT put the number at three, and some local reports say four. The injured were taken to Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves in Granada to be checked over. No serious injuries or deaths have been reported, and emergency services said there was no serious structural damage to nearby homes.

Tedax (bomb disposal officers), Policía Científica (forensic police), the National Police, Guardia Civil, Local Police and firefighters all attended, with two security areas set up to help residents and passers-by.

The union says a routine test went wrong

UGT said a routine test was under way when ‘something failed’, and that the area was cordoned off with nobody nearby. Juan Bayo, a union official from FICA, said a quality test on a projectile was being carried out when it went off. He described ‘smoke, a smell of gunpowder and a strong tremor’, and said workers in that part of the site operate remotely from behind protective barriers. 

None of that has been confirmed by police though, and the cause is still under investigation. 112 has reported the incident to the Labour Inspectorate (Inspección de Trabajo) and the occupational risk prevention centre, while the company hasn’t made a statement and it’s unclear whether production has stopped. 

It’s the second scare at the plant this month 

The explosion comes less than three weeks after a lorry carrying mortar grenades from the same factory shed part of its load on the A-4002 in El Fargue on Tuesday October 13. Residents within 100 metres were told to leave their homes while Tedax cleared the road. Nobody was hurt, and police suggested the load hadn’t been properly secured, while the company opened its own investigation. Nobody has linked the two incidents though. 

The factory traces its gunpowder production back about 700 years and has belonged since 2020 to Slovakia’s MSM Group, part of Czechoslovak Group. It makes tank, mortar and artillery ammunition, including 120mm rounds for the Spanish Army’s Leopard 2 tanks.

Investigators have not yet said what failed or when the factory will be back to normal, and further updates are expected to follow.