The Polish Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that on Wednesday there was an explosion at Warsaw’s Police headquarters resulting in the collapse of the ceiling on the ground floor of the building
It is understood that General Jarosław Szymczyk was injured in the explosion and was transferred to hospital.
Reports indicate that a gift Szymczyk received during a working visit to Ukraine detonated, with the damage from the blast also hitting a number of offices in the building, including Szymczyk’s office.
The Ministry of the Interior has admitted that during his working visit to Ukraine the general met with chiefs of Ukrainian services and received a gift from one of them, which according to commercial radio RMF FM, was a grenade rocket launcher.
General Szymczyk was taken to hospital with minor injuries, and another civilian member of staff was also hurt but not hospitalized.
The prosecutors have launched an investigation to determine responsibility for the accidental explosion which endangered life and property. According to the Onet.pl news outlet, the incident took place when the general and his staff were inspecting the grenade launcher. According to the Onet report, the general picked up the grenade launcher and, unaware that it was loaded, set it off, causing the explosion.
The Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that Polish authorities have asked the Ukrainians for a full explanation and that the prosecutors and Polish security services are now engaged in the matter.
According to the RMF FM radio station, several procedures were violated in the unfortunate incident. As of yet, there is no answer as to why the fire services nor building inspectors were not called in nor is there any explanation as to why it took the ministry 30 hours to make a statement on the matter.
