Two South Korean Air Force fighter jets yesterday accidentally dropped eight bombs on a village during a joint training exercise with US forces, officials said, with civilians among 15 people injured.
The KF-16 jets were participating in joint South Korea-US live-fire training exercises in Pocheon, about 25km south of the border with North Korea, military and government officials said.
The two jets accidentally released eight MK-82 general-purpose bombs — four each — which landed “outside the designated firing range,” the air force said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The pilot appears to have entered incorrect coordinates during the pre-flight preparation process,” an air force official told reporters.
One Pocheon resident told Yonhap news agency he was watching television when he heard the bombs explode.
“I suddenly heard an enormous explosion, like a thunderclap, and the whole house shook,” said the resident, who gave only his surname, Park.
“When I went outside, everything was in chaos,” he said.
The two aircraft were meant to fire simultaneously at a target as part of the exercise, the air force official said.
“It is believed that the first pilot entered incorrect coordinates, leading the second aircraft to drop its munitions as well,” the official said.
A South Korean Ministry of Defense official said that an investigation was under way.
“We deeply regret the unintended release of the bombs, which resulted in civilian casualties, and wish those injured a swift recovery,” the air force said in an earlier statement.
It said it would “take all necessary measures, including compensation for damages.”
Fifteen people were injured, including civilians and military personnel, the South Korean National Fire Agency said in a statement.
One church building and sections of two houses were damaged, the statement said.
Pocheon Mayor Baek Young-hyeun demanded that all military exercises cease until preventive measures were made.
“While there have been accidents where bullets bounced off targets and landed elsewhere, it is simply unimaginable that an aircraft would directly fire at civilian homes,” Baek told reporters.
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