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SOLDIER KILLED, ANOTHER INJURED IN SOUTH AUSTRALIAN TRAINING ACCIDENT |
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Wednesday, 21 October 2009 |
The Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie, early this morning announced that, tragically, an Australian soldier was killed and another seriously injured last night in a training accident at Cultana, South Australia.
At approximately 9:30pm (Australian Central Standard Time), Special Forces soldiers were conducting a night training activity with live ammunition. The activity was associated with mission specific training for an upcoming Afghanistan deployment.
One soldier, from Army’s 2nd Commando Regiment was seriously injured and later pronounced dead at the scene by civilian medical personnel.
Another soldier, from the Incident Response Regiment, was injured and taken to Port Augusta for treatment. His condition is serious. Both soldiers belong to Army’s Special Operations Command and their units are Sydney based.
Lieutenant General Gillespie expressed his deepest condolences to the families, friends and unit colleagues of the soldiers involved in this tragic accident. “Army and the wider Defence community is doing everything we can to assist and support them through this very difficult time,” he said.
“The events of last evening will be the subject of full civil and military investigations. The South Australian police will lead the investigation supported by the ADF Investigative Service. It is too early to make further comment with regards to the cause of this accident. Hopefully we can make further comment later today.”
The families of the soldiers have been advised of this tragedy. For privacy reasons, personal details of the deceased soldier and his injured colleague are not being released at this time.
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