The cause of the explosion at the Ashuluk training ground in the Astrakhan region, where six servicemen were killed and ten were wounded, was the self-detonation of a projectile from a Grad launcher. All last night, doctors fought for the lives of the victims. Half of them are in serious condition. The tragedy occurred during the unloading of old ammunition intended for disposal. As the Minister of Defense announced today, a commission from Moscow has been sent to the site. She will prepare a report for the President in which, I quote, “appropriate conclusions regarding the guilty persons” will be made.
Svyatoslav Gordin is overseeing the investigation.
KOR: According to preliminary data, 122-mm shells exploded at the Ashuluk training ground. This happened at a time when servicemen were unloading ammunition from trucks onto the ground.
EVGENIYA MALTSEVA (MAIN MILITARY INVESTIGATIVE DEPARTMENT OF THE ICR): The personnel of military unit 40491/1 unloaded shells intended for firing from a Grad-type launcher from a Ural vehicle onto the ground. When placing ammunition directly at the destruction site, one shell exploded, causing the others to detonate. The explosion killed an officer and five conscripts.
KOR: Here are the first photographs from the Ashuluk training ground a few hours after the explosion. The force of the explosion cannot be judged from these images. No damage is visible. It is reported that there was no fire at the scene of the emergency, otherwise there could have been more explosions. The wounded servicemen were taken to hospitals. “Ashuluk” is located far from populated areas, and a helicopter was used to evacuate the victims. To provide medical care, seven operating units were deployed in Astrakhan hospitals. The condition of at least two servicemen, according to doctors, is extremely serious.
NIKOLAI VOLKOV (REGIONAL CLINICAL HOSPITAL): Well, ... in the intensive care unit of the Regional Clinical Hospital there are 5 people with mine explosion wounds and traumatic brain injury. 5 people, four people in extremely serious condition, well, I said, unconscious. State of hemorrhagic and traumatic shock.
(dossier)
KOR: The Ashuluk testing ground has been operating for half a century. It was created as a training and research center for troops air defense. For the last ten years, the Air Force and Air Defense exercises of the CIS countries “Combat Commonwealth” have been held here. This spring, a shell already exploded at this site, killing one person. Until yesterday, ammunition disposal was actively underway at Ashuluk. One of the military personnel serving at the training ground posted this video on the Internet a few days ago with the note “our battalion is disposing of ammunition.” From these images it is not difficult to imagine how dangerous this work can be.
ANATOLY SERDUKOV (MINISTER OF DEFENSE OF THE RF): I signed the corresponding order to create a commission to investigate the incident, which will be headed by Army General Bulgakov. My deputy. Accordingly, he flies to the scene of the incident this morning. In general, we will prepare such a normal report to the President with the corresponding conclusions regarding the perpetrators
KOR: A special commission under the leadership of the commander of the Southern Military District began an investigation at the scene. A criminal case was opened in connection with violation of the rules for handling weapons.
Svyatoslav Gordin, Maxim Smagin. South Russian bureau of the NTV television company.
During a training exercise at a military training ground in the Leningrad region on September 7, an explosion occurred, reports the headquarters of the Western Military District (WMD). The explosion occurred at approximately 12:30 Moscow time during scheduled firing from a tank.
“One of the shells deviated from the trajectory when touching the ground (ricochet) and exploded in close proximity to the shelter in which there were six servicemen from the engineering support group,”
- quotes the press service of the Western Military District.
As a result of the incident, one soldier was killed and five more were injured. All victims were taken to medical facilities and are receiving assistance. The Western Military District commission is working at the scene of the explosion. The press service of the Western Military District does not provide any other details about the incident.
As the local publication clarifies, the explosion occurred at a military training ground in the Luga district of the Leningrad region. Two of the five victims were transported by air ambulance to Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, three more - to the Luga Central District Hospital. According to the publication,
one of the victims is in serious condition and his arm may be amputated. The second one is currently undergoing surgery - he has shrapnel wounds to the chest.
The St. Petersburg publication also reports that an investigation team from the military investigation department for the district went to the scene of the incident.
On September 7, a medical detachment exercise is also being held in the Leningrad region special purpose ZVO. Their purpose is to check the level of training of medical specialists. According to the Ministry of Defense, the military personnel loaded medical equipment and marched to the designated area. “In field conditions, military doctors will have to work out the standards for the deployment of functional units of the hospital and practice the provision of qualified medical care to the conditionally wounded and injured,” says the press service of the Western Military District. In total, more than 120 people take part in the exercises, and about 50 units of special equipment are involved.
On August 11, after the completion of military exercises in the Pskov region, a military man who was serving under contract in the Pskov region died. Airborne troops(Airborne Forces). According to the Ministry of Defense, the cause of his death was “violation of safety requirements when handling small arms.”
According to the military prosecutor's office of the Pskov garrison, a serviceman of the Pskov 76th Air Assault Division died during regimental tactical exercises at a training ground in the Strugokrasnensky district. The exercises took place from August 7 to 11, and about 2.5 thousand people took part in them. During the maneuvers, the military personnel practiced the task of landing and conducting combat operations of the regiment in the Western direction in the face of active opposition from illegal armed groups.
As “” later reported, the deceased serviceman left three children. The publication's source in the 76th Airborne Division claimed that the soldier died because of a colleague. According to safety rules, after firing during a training exercise, an employee must check whether he has used up all the cartridges, and after him this must be done by a senior officer.
“At the end of the exercise, the military had to dismantle their weapons.
The contractor in charge of the untested machine gun hesitated, and his senior ranks began to rush him. And he - in his haste - again did not check the weapon. Having started to disassemble the machine gun, he touched the trigger: the bullet hit a nearby soldier who served as a mechanic in the Airborne Forces.
It went right through the lumbar region,” the publication reported, but no one officially confirmed this information.
On September 28 last year, an ammunition explosion occurred at a military training ground in the Kingisepp district of the Leningrad region. The incident occurred during work on the disposal of wartime ammunition. As a result of the explosion, three people were killed and three more were injured. As RIA Novosti's source in the security forces reported, all the victims were employees of the Samara-Explosive Technologies company, which specializes in ammunition disposal.
TASS DOSSIER. On September 7, 2017, an emergency occurred at the training ground of the Western Military District in the Leningrad Region. During scheduled firing from a tank, one of the shells, as a result of a ricochet, exploded next to a shelter in which there were six servicemen of the engineering support group. One of them died and five were injured.
The editors of TASS-DOSSIER have prepared a chronology of cases of deaths of Russian military personnel during exercises at military training grounds. In total, at least 11 such cases have occurred over the past five years (including the state of emergency on September 7, 2017). The list does not include cases of deaths of military personnel in explosions and fires that occurred during the disposal of ammunition at landfills.
August 14, 2013 at the Ashuluk military training ground ( Astrakhan region) while clearing the territory of unexploded ammunition after firing practice, two conscripts, Andrei Leonov and Dmitry Reshetov, were killed as a result of a shell explosion.
On October 22, 2013, at the Strugi Krasnye military training ground (Pskov region), while clearing the area of unexploded ammunition after firing, an explosion of a 100-mm artillery shell occurred. As a result, a contract sergeant and five cadets of the Ryazan Airborne School were killed, and two more cadets were wounded.
January 30, 2014 at a combined arms training ground near settlement Prince-Volkonsky ( Khabarovsk region) during scheduled night training, ammunition spontaneously exploded in the tank. The crew of the combat vehicle was killed - Lieutenant Delyus Garipov, privates Evgeny Taktarov and Alexey Hartasov.
On September 22, 2014, during the Vostok-2014 exercises in Aniva Bay (Sakhalin Island), while practicing the landing of a unit Marine Corps from a large landing ship to an unequipped coast, one of the armored personnel carriers went under water. 300 m from the shore combat vehicle covered by a wave. The armored personnel carrier contained a crew and troops of ten people. Three servicemen helped seven comrades swim to the surface of the water, but they themselves died. All three were presented to state awards posthumously.
On September 13, 2015, according to a TASS source in the investigative authorities of the Russian Federation, junior sergeant Andrei Korolev was killed in aerial firing in the Orenburg region in preparation for the Center-2015 exercises, and another serviceman was injured. According to the source, their infantry fighting vehicles were mistakenly hit by two helicopters.
On February 9, 2016, while preparing for training at the Totsky military training ground near Orenburg, a contract soldier was seriously injured when an unidentified device exploded. The victim was taken to a military hospital, but his life could not be saved.
April 2, 2016 at the Chebarkul military training ground ( Chelyabinsk region) an accident occurred during technical training. A contract serviceman was killed as a result of a collision with an infantry fighting vehicle. The BMP was moving in reverse, the driver did not notice the soldier behind the vehicle.
November 24, 2016 in Temryukovsky district Krasnodar region Three servicemen of the Russian Airborne Forces, during training parachute jumps, were unable to land on a given site and landed on the Kuban River. Due to low clouds, when they hit the water, they did not have time to disconnect their parachute systems and drowned. On November 25 and 26, their bodies were discovered during a search operation.
March 15, 2017 at the training ground in Stavropol region during scheduled fire training classes as a result of careless handling firearms a contract soldier for one of the formations died. According to a TASS source in the security forces, the military man was accidentally shot by his colleague.
On August 11, 2017, after completing a tactical exercise at the Strugi Krasnye training ground, contract service corporal Vasily Prokofiev died from a gunshot wound due to a violation of safety requirements. The military investigative department of the Russian Investigative Committee for the Pskov garrison opened a criminal case under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of the rules for handling weapons, resulting in the death of a person” against a contract soldier, Corporal Esenbulat Gadzhimagomedov. According to the investigation, the emergency occurred while dismounting from a BMD-2 armored vehicle, when a colleague of the deceased, Corporal Gadzhimagomedov, accidentally shot him with a machine gun.
During the Zapad-2017 exercise at the Luzhsky training ground, a Ka-52 helicopter fired a salvo of missiles at the spectators. According to preliminary data, two people were seriously injured. About other incidents during military exercises - in the material of Kommersant.
September 14, 2000 in the Primorsky Territory 100 mm a training projectile fired from the Admiral Panteleev BOD hit the center of the football field stadium in the village of Nerpa. A 67-year-old local resident was shell-shocked. The Pacific Fleet said the incident was due to a fire crew error.
On July 15, 2003, in the Leningrad region, a training missile launched from a Su-24 bomber an X-25 air-to-ground missile deviated from its course and fell on a country house in the village of Ragulovo, 20 km from the test site. The rocket broke the roof, but the owner of the house was not seriously injured. The military compensated for the damage.
August 26, 2003 in Chernigovka (Primorsky Territory) two Mi-24V combat helicopters crashed who participated in the Vostok-2003 exercises and carried out a dangerous element not planned in the program. Six people died. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who was present at the exercise, immediately called the “frivolity, bravado and aerial hooliganism” of the pilots the cause of the disaster.
On January 16, 2008, in the Moscow region, during a sapper training exercise, two UR-77 mine clearance missiles flew outside the test site and fell on a gardening partnership. "Ozerki" One did not explode, but the second set fire to the cottage of Sergei Orishchenko, general director of the Delovoy Mir publishing house. The cause was stated to be a technical fault. The house was renovated at the expense of the Ministry of Defense.
March 20, 2008 in Primorye During a training flight at the Chernigovka air garrison, a Su-25 crashed. The investigation established that the attack aircraft was shot down by a missile fired from a follower aircraft. The pilot died before he could eject.
September 19, 2008 in the Leningrad region during an exercise an artillery shell narrowly missed a car, driving along the road not far from the Bobochinsky combined arms training ground. The car was damaged by shrapnel, but the people in it were not injured. The military promised to compensate for the damage.
July 31, 2012 near Kronstadt during firing training a sailor died on the small anti-submarine ship "Perekop" and four more were wounded. The shell exploded after hitting the sloop beam on the port side of the ship. The deceased sailor, along with his colleagues, tried to take a photo for his demobilization album near a firing cannon.
On October 22, 2013, at the Strugi Krasnye training ground in the Pskov region, while clearing the area of unexploded ammunition after firing, an explosion of a 100-mm artillery shell occurred. A contract service sergeant and five cadets of the Ryazan Airborne School were killed, and two more cadets were wounded.
January 30, 2014 at a combined arms training ground near the village of Knyaze-Volkonskoye (Khabarovsk Territory) during scheduled night training ammunition spontaneously exploded in the tank. The crew of the combat vehicle was killed - Lieutenant Delyus Garipov, privates Evgeny Taktarov and Alexey Hartasov.
November 24, 2016 in the Temryukovsky district of the Krasnodar Territory Three airborne troops drowned during training parachute jumps. Due to low clouds, they were unable to land at the designated site and landed on the Kuban River.
September 7, 2017 at the training ground of the Western Military District in the Leningrad Region during scheduled firing from a tank one of the shells exploded near the shelter in which there were six servicemen engineering support groups. One of them died and five were injured.
The exercises, which began today around noon at a military training ground near Luga, instantly turned into a theater of military operations with casualties: at about half past one in the afternoon, an explosion was heard during scheduled tank firing.
DEVIATED FROM THE TRAJECTORY
“One of the projectiles deviated from the trajectory after touching the ground (ricochet),” Komsomolskaya Pravda was told in press service of the Western Military District.“And then it exploded in the immediate vicinity of a shelter in which there were six servicemen from the engineering support group.
All six young people were injured. Five conscripts with explosive wounds of varying severity were taken to hospitals, another died on the spot. Two of the victims were sent to the Military Medical Academy, and the two more serious ones, who were not transportable, were sent to the Luga Interdistrict Hospital. They were brought by a Ministry of Defense helicopter. Another person in moderate severity was hospitalized at the Luga military hospital.
According to Chief Surgeon of the Health Committee of the Leningrad Region Oleg Ergashev, patients at the Luga Hospital were operated on within two hours. Now both are in intensive care, they are receiving anti-shock measures.
“We don’t undertake to make forecasts,” noted Oleg Nikolaevich. “But they are receiving all the treatment to get out of the state of shock by tomorrow.” When this happens, they can be transported to the Military Medical Academy. We constantly consult with the Department of Military Surgery of the Military Medical Academy.
FOR TANKIST'S DAY
Now the commission of the Western Military District is working on the site. Administration of the Luga district of the Leningrad region ready, if necessary, to provide assistance to the military.
According to Ministry of Defense, today around noon, an exercise began at one of the training grounds in the Leningrad region, the purpose of which was to train medical specialists.
“The military personnel loaded the medical equipment of the mobile field hospital kit and marched as part of the unit,” the Ministry of Defense reported. – In field conditions, military doctors had to work out the standards for the deployment of functional units of the hospital and practice the provision of qualified medical care to the conditionally wounded and injured.
More than 120 people were involved in the exercises, and about fifty special vehicles were used.
Earlier, local authorities reported that on September 9, a holiday dedicated to Tankman’s Day would be held at the training ground. As planned, military vehicles, including the newest ones, should “dance” for the audience and show an imitation of a real tank battle.
NO VIOLATIONS
According to Komsomolskaya Pravda, large-scale exercises are currently taking place at the Luga training ground, which brought together military personnel from different divisions and units, totaling about 35 thousand people. The training ground is one of the objects of the Zapad 2017 exercises - joint strategic exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus, scheduled for September 14-20.
“There have been no appeals from the relatives of the victims yet,” Anton Shcherbak, coordinator of the department for protecting the rights of military personnel of the human rights organization “Soldiers’ Mothers of St. Petersburg,” told Komsomolskaya Pravda. – The state must fulfill all the obligations that it undertakes when calling a citizen into service or when concluding a contract: payment of all insurances and benefits. I don't think there will be any problems here.
Meanwhile, according to a Komsomolskaya Pravda source, according to a preliminary version, no safety violations were found during the exercises, and chance was to blame for the injuries of six military personnel.
HELP "KP":
Luga artillery range– one of the oldest reference sites Russian army: the military settled here back in 1906 by order of Nicholas II. Now artillerymen and tank crews train here, and on military holidays the training ground is open to civilians.
COMPETENT:
Viktor Litovkin, military expert, retired colonel:
– During the exercises we use tanks, artillery, there are shells, explosives, and cartridges. Of course, there is some danger. Young people do not always act wisely: they need control. And if there is no supervision, anything can happen. But no percentage of deaths is included in the exercises! Even for combat losses, the commander is hit hard on the head.
AND THERE WAS ANOTHER CASE:
In April 2010, at the training ground in Kamenka, during tank exercises, the military mistook an observation tower in which two lieutenants were located as a target. Both died.
