Parshall, North Dakota The Air Force is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of ammunition that reportedly accidentally fell off a vehicle on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Minot Air Force Base spokeswoman Danielle Lucero told The Bismarck Tribune that a search involving base personnel was called off over the weekend after airmen exhausted efforts to find the missing ammunition.
Hamburg, Germany A 41-year-old woman was very lucky when she picked up what she believed to be a small piece of amber from wet sand beside the River Elbe and put it in the pocket of her jacket. The object, which actually turned out to be white phosphorus (WP), caught on fire inside the garment when it reacted with the air as it dried.
Firefighters then searched the beach looking for additional explosive material, but did not find any. WP burns at extremely high temperatures when exposed to air.
Independence, Missouri an explosion occurred at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant killing one and injuring four others. The incident occurred at a mixing building.
An investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of the incident. The GOCO facility is operated by Orbital-ATK and produces more than 1 billion rounds of small-caliber ammunition each year. About 30 government employees work at the plant, including 29 civilians and one soldier, according to the email.
Officials with the ATF have secured the scene and determined the area to be safe, but the plant has been temporary closed until further notice.
Dorchester County, Maryland A boat carrying 23 people including 14 students sank after hitting an underwater obstacle off of Bloodsworth Island, a former bombing range / target area in the Chesapeake Bay. The boat was in about 10 feet of water just west of the island when the accident occurred. The boat captain issued a distress signal over the radio as passengers, including the fourth grade students, put on their life jackets and the clung to sides of the boat.
A local waterman, Jeremy Shockley, hearing the distress call on the radio rushed to the scene and picked up the stranded passengers and brought them to shore in Wingate, on the eastern shore of Maryland. When Maryland Natural Resource Police and the Coast Guard responded and few minutes later, they helped coordinate emergency service personnel responding from the land.
Caruthersville, Missouri Firefighters encountered unusual debris in their investigation of a house fire they had put out. Cape Girardeau and Sikeston bomb squads and Army EOD unit from Fort Leonardwood responded to the scene where they verified the suspect military ordnance found by the fire crew was an M-29 practice rifle grenade from the Korean War era.
It is unclear how the inert grenade got into the home. The State Fire Marshall is still investigating the incident.
Bacolod City, Philippines An explosion inside the shop of the EOD Battalion of the Philippine Army at the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office compound in Bacolod City which killed one soldier and wounded another has been ruled an accident. Technical Sergeant Joven Maravilla and Corporal Erlwin Trases were conducting a demilitarization procedure of an M203 grenade launcher when it exploded.
Both men were taken to a hospital where Maravilla was pronounced dead. Trases suffered multiple wounds and the loss of his right hand.
Oahu, Hawaii Two ground maintenance contractors were evacuated to Queen's Medical Center after being involved in a UXO incident. The workers reportedly encountered UXO at Makua Military Reservation as they were operating weed-whackers. The encounter caused an explosion that caused serious injury to one worker with the blast impacting a nearby worker to a lesser degree.
An Army contracted medevac helicopter airlifted the civilians to the hospital. The exact type of munition involved in the accident was not reported and it is unknown if UXO escorts were provided to the workers. The incident is under investigation by the Army.
Birmingham, Alabama Army EOD Technicians from Fort Benning rushed to the aid of a 62-year-old man who accidentally fired an entire undetonated 40-mm grenade into his leg. The man and two paramedics were held outside hospital for eight hours following instructions from the EOD that one move could kill them all. Eventually, the team decided to have a disposal specialist attempt to remove the device from the man's leg.
Doctors at the clinic where the man first reported his injury stated that the victim thought the item was a novelty grenade and for some reason decided to "hit it with a hammer". At first they thought his wounds were the result of a piece of shrapnel but realized during transport to a shock trauma facility that it was indeed the actual 40mm grenade. The grenade reportedly failed to detonate because it did not travel far enough to arm itself when it became lodged in his leg.
Groix , France A 26-year-old camper was killed by an explosion believed to have been caused by a WWII UXO that had washed ashore on the French island of Groix off the coast of Brittany. The man died after a blast near a campfire while on vacation with nine other friends, one of whom was seriously injured in the blast.
Authorities investigating the incident suspect that the tide washed the UXO ashore as munitions debris reportedly found in the area. The exact cause of the detonation was unknown at this time.
Phoenix, Arizona Luke Air Force Base munitions experts were called to the scene of a massive industrial fire affecting at least six businesses, when officials found military-grade ordnance. The EOD team found dozens of tubes for explosives, but only three were determined to be live.
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