The Indian Army on Thursday denied the reports that the Wednesday's mortar firing that killed three people was done at the training range in Bihar's Gaya. It extended all possible support to investigating agencies to find the cause.
The Army extended condolences to the families of those who died and sustained injuries owing to the unfortunate incident near Gulerbed Village located under Barachatti police station, a statement said.
Army says 'incident misreported'
“The incident has been misreported by a section of the media that the deaths occurred due to Army mortar firing. It is clarified that on 8 March 2023, no firing of mortars was carried out at the Deuri Dumri Field Firing Ranges. It is further clarified that all clearances, on a notified firing range are obtained on a daily basis prior to the firing from local civil administration and police. No such clearance was asked for the mortar firing on the day.”
Media reports showed a crator indicating the impact of the mortar shell. The mortar shell detonation's impact does not create such signatures. This could be a case of unauthorised collection of a mortar blind shell which fell in the designated impact area on an earlier date, and efforts to dismantle it to extract scrap metal on 08 March 2023 for sale. It could have triggered the detonation, causing the unfortunate accident,” it said.
Army highlights dangers of unauthorised collecting of scrap
The unfortunate loss of lives and injuries, again highlights the dangers posed by the entry into the impact area of field firing ranges, and of the dangerous practice of unauthorised collecting of scrap and even blind rounds from the impact area, for sale, which results in such tragedies, it added.
“The Indian Army requests that the practice of unauthorised collection of scrap metal and even blind rounds for sale, must be refrained from,” the statement said.
