3 killed as explosion hits Russian military training site

PanARMENIAN.Net - Three troops were killed in a munitions explosion at a military training site late Thursday in Russia’s Far East, a defense ministry spokesman said, according to RIA Novosti.

The accident occurred as the troops were conducting a live-fire exercise from an armored fighting vehicle in the village of Knyaze-Volkonskoye, in the Khabarovsk Region.

“As a result of the blast, three troops, including an officer, were killed,” the spokesman said Friday, Jan 31.

Investigations into the incident are ongoing. Accidents with explosive material are a regular occurrence in the Russian military.

There were two fatal explosions of stockpiled ammunition in Russia last year, down from five the previous year.

In October, six Russian paratroopers were killed and two more injured in an ammo explosion at a facility outside Pskov, near the border with Estonia and Belarus.

Critics of the military attribute the persisting problem of exploding army ammunition depots as the outcome of poor oversight and lax safety standards.