Minister of Economy Radu Miruta declared on Saturday in Cugir, in the aftermath of the fire that hit a hall of the local Mechanical Plant, that all possibilities are being considered by the authorities investigating the incident, including an act of sabotage.

When asked by the press whether sabotage is also looked at as a possible cause, he replied: 'I will not comment until I have intelligence from experts. You know me as a very determined man, as someone who speaks very transparently, but allow me not to comment on any suspicion lead. Let me first see what data the personnel of the state institutions that coordinated last night's response action have collected up to now, and I will straightforwardly tell you, as you know me.'

Upon further insistence by the journalist on whether this possibility is also being considered, the minister declared that no variant is being ruled out for now.

'We are looking at absolutely all variants. Until we narrow down the funnel to get to the specific point, it is reasonable to take into account absolutely any possibility, with equal probability,' said Radu Miruta.

Minister Miruta is in Cugir on Saturday to learn firsthand about the situation at the city's Mechanical Plant, where a fire followed by explosions occurred at a hall where approximately 400,000 14.5 cartridges worth an estimated 5 million euros were stored, awaiting delivery.

'From what I have been told, for now, the damage is quite small in financial terms, but I am only speaking based on documents, I want to see hard documents. (...) First I want to see what the specialists who went inside this morning to gather information about what could have happened there before the fire broke out have to say,' the minister explained.

He added that there will be 'no speck of mercy' in digging up the cause of the incident, 'so that absolutely nothing is concealed, to see if it is attributable and to whom, and what can be done so that next time we don't have to say again 'Thank God that worse didn't happen',' and that he wants to make sure that the investigations are carried out in a professional manner.

An investigation is underway at the site of the fire, with police and forensics experts collecting images from the video surveillance systems of the facility and in the locality, interviewing the unit's employees and gathering documents.

The fire, accompanied by explosions broke out on Saturday morning around 1:00 inside a hall of the Mechanical Plant Cugir S.A. - National Company Romarm S.A., spreading across 700 sqm; police and firefighters from several counties responded to the incident, including with water-shooting robotic units. No casualties were recorded.

The factory employees were put on a two-week leave, starting August 1. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Marinela Brumar; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)