Pashanai - New information has come to light on the explosion that occurred yesterday at a Ministry of War station in Pashanai. According to station manifests, Empress Jamyl Sarum was scheduled to make a short stop at the station at the time the explosion happened.
Sarum was making a diplomatic tour of the outlying areas in commemoration of St. Kuria's Day, a little-known Amarr religious holiday observed annually by the Holders and the religious establishment, though it is generally not celebrated outside of these cirlces. By tradition, the emperor spends this day meeting with religious figureheads and observing rites with them.
Approximately twenty minutes before the explosion took place, Empress Sarum's office cancelled her meeting at the station. She was to have met with Theology Council Arch Deacon Mervan Moritok, who was present at the station and died in the blast. Representatives of her office could not be reached for official comment, but a highly-placed source within the Empire has gone on record saying, "Diplomatic tours [such as the St. Kuria's Day one] are verydifficult logistical undertakings, and scheduling conflicts often arise with very little warning."
The explosion at Pashanai, an act of the Minmatar revolutionary organization the Bloody Hands of Matar, claimed the lives of 5,563 people.