Helicopter mistakenly fires on parked vehicles in Russia war games
MOSCOW: A military helicopter on a rural training exercise in western Russia mistakenly fired rockets at a group of parked vehicles, knocking at least one person to the ground, footage posted by Russian news sites and on social media showed.
A video clip published yesterday by the independent news site Fontanka.ru showed a helicopter firing a salvo of rockets at a military truck covered in camouflage netting in open countryside, with three vehicles with no military markings visible, parked a few metres away.
A man in civilian clothes who had been standing close to the truck was engulfed in a cloud of dust. The person filming the clip, who was slightly further away, could be seen sprawled on the ground.
Russia is currently staging the ‘ Zapad 2017’ war games in the area, major exercises on Nato’s eastern flank that were inspected on Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Fontanka.ru said the incident occurred on Sept 18 and left one person with concussion. It did not give details on the source of the video.
A second video from the same location, which was posted on social media by Russian investigative bloggers Conflict Intelligence Team, showed the aftermath, including a smashed window in a white jeep nearest to the truck, and shrapnel damage to the military truck. — Reuters