High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 2008 Chelopechene explosions were a series of explosions that began early on Thursday morning 3 July 2008 at around 6:30 am local time at a munitions depot in the suburb of Chelopechene, 10 kilometres east of the centre of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. The initial explosions were powerful enough to be heard in the entire capital and surrounding villages. The depot was part of a military facility (Podelenie 18 250) that specialised in dismantling obsolete ammunition.