Fifteen wounded after the South -Korean jets are mistaken on the houses – The Irish Times

South -Korean The hunting jets accidentally threw eight bombs on Thursday in a civil district on Thursday, hurting 15 people and damaging a church during Pocheon’s military exercises, said the Air Agency and the Fire Agency.

The Fire Agency stated in a statement that 15 people were injured, including two who were seriously injured.

Pocheon is about 40 km northern -est of Seoul, near the strongly militarized border with north korea.

“A powerful scream of a fight jet appeared, then an explosion called … When I went to the scene, there were about four houses that were reduced by half damage, people hurt,” said Oh Moun-Z, a 65-year-old resident.

“The twilight and the smoke rises in the sky, the water slipped from it. The people from a vehicle walking on a site were injured – some of them couldn’t even get out of the car. Another one was outside the car that covered his eye. “

South Korean air forces said eight 225 kg MK82 bombs from two KF-16 jets fell outside the firing range during common fire exercises.

“We are sorry for the damages caused by the abnormal fall accident and we want the wounded to a quick recovery,” the air force said in a statement.

The accident was due to a pilot who entered incorrect coordinates, said a military official who refused to be identified due to the sensitivity of the problem. The official said that the two jets then threw four bombs each, all detonating.

Authorities will suspend live fire exercises until there has been a clear understanding of what went wrong, but the incident will not affect the South Korean and American major military exercises, which will start on Monday, the official said.

The inhabitants of the area protested on the potential disturbance and danger due to the reasons for years near years.

The photos on the spot showed an impact hollow house, the shattered windows and a church building spread with debris.

The security chamber movies broadcast on the local television also surprised the moments that led to the incident, with a truck driving on a street street before consuming the area of ​​a large explosion.

“It happened unthinkable,” said the mayor of Pocheon, Baeck Young-Hyeun, who asked the government and the military to come with measures to prevent other civil damages.

The Ministry of Defense said on Thursday that South Korea and US forces held the first common live fire exercises in Pocheon, related to annual military exercises, which will start next week.

The common Freedom Shield joint exercises, which will be carried out between March 10 and March 20, aim to strengthen the availability of the alliance for threats such as North Korea, the common heads of Seoul (JCS) said before the accident.

This year’s exercises will reflect the “lessons learned from recent armed conflicts” and the growing partnership of North Korea with Russiaadded.

“Our planners look throughout the globe and identify the trends that change and look at how we can incorporate this exercises,” said Ryan Donald, a USFK forces spokesman on Thursday (USFK).

About 70 combined field training sessions are scheduled for this year’s exercise, said Lee Sung-Jin, a JCS spokesman in Seoul. – Reuters