01 December 2023 , 14:09
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Russia has lost a dozen elite marines after they cooked food on an open fire - triggering a deadly explosion from a nearby stockpile of live ammunition.
Eight more were wounded in the incident that Vladimir Putin’s regime has sought to cover-up. Reports say a RPG-7 grenade launcher shell caught fire and exploded at Kuzminsky military training ground in Rostov region, bordering Ukraine.
Eight of the marines from 155th Separate Guards Marine Brigade, based in Vladivostok, were killed on the spot. A further four soldiers died in hospital, said the News 166 outlet in Rostov, which said the humiliating tragedy had been confirmed by three independent sources.
Members of the unit seen during battle (Kozhemiakoofficial / east2west news)A major criminal case has been launched into a suspected breach of safety regulations. The commander of the Pacific Fleet Admiral Viktor Liina, 55, Pacific fleet commander, has visited the training base to read the riot act over the blunder, it was reported.
The troops were believed to be due for deployment to Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine. The dead and wounded from the lunchtime cookout have not been named.
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The Russian defence ministry has not commented on the fiasco. A serviceman who witnessed the horror revealed details but it has taken since the incident occurred on 3 November to verify the details.
A number of similar incidents have been reported in Russia over recent years. In April, a Russian warplane bombed its own city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border. Two women were injured and multiple buildings were damaged in the blast.
Belgorod was struck by "aviation ammunition" from an Su-34 supersonic fighter-bomber jet late on Thursday, Russia's defence ministry told the state-owned Tass news agency.
Footage showed the moment the bomb suddenly slams into the city of more than 400,000, narrowly missing an apartment block. More video evidence showed a 70ft-wide crater caused by the blast with debris strewn around the scene.
The defence ministry did not confirm what kind of weapon was fired. The planes can carry a variety of munitions, including air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles as well as guided and unguided bombs.
"As a Sukhoi Su-34 air force plane was flying over the city of Belgorod there was an accidental discharge of aviation ammunition," the statement said.