Modern/Post-War Photos

R.O.K. 155mm Failure

2009, Gun failed during ordnance tests involving new fuses&shells. cut, and paste of news story :"SEOUL — One researcher was killed and five injured when a field gun exploded Thursday during a test at a South Korean firing range, the Defense Ministry said." A spokesman said a 40-year-old official from the state-run Agency for Defence Development (ADD) died and five other researchers were in hospital, two of them in serious condition. A 31-year-old suffered injuries to both arms and a 36-year-old was badly injured by shrapnel, officials said. Three others were slightly hurt. The accident happened during the testing of a fuse for shells for a 155mm howitzer. Ministry and agency officials were investigating the exact cause of the blast at Pocheon, 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Seoul. A spokesman for the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, which oversee ADD, said the explosion happened after the researchers inserted the fuse into a shell for testing. The fuse was part of a new batch of shells to be produced, the spokesman said, adding the explosion came after the sixth shell to be fired was loaded into the howitzer.