Glascoed: Explosion at BAE Systems Monmouthshire site

There has been an explosion at a site belonging to BAE Systems, Britain's biggest defence firm, in south Wales.

It happened at BAE Systems in Glascoed, Monmouthshire, at 10:49 BST on Wednesday, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said.

BAE Systems said safety protocols were "immediately enacted" and emergency services attended the site.

It said it had launched a full investigation and all of its employees had been accounted for.

"Our emergency response team continues to monitor the facility," the firm said.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service also confirmed it had been called to the scene and that an incident control post had been established.

The BAE systems site was established to help prepare the Royal Navy ahead of World War Two.

Today, it employs about 500 people.

It continued supplying munitions after the war and was privatised in the 1980s.

Primarily an arms factory, last year work began on a bomb-making building at the site.