French Special Forces Disaster

[morrigan]

For those who haven't seen the news........







TWO people including a child are in critical condition and 15 others are injured after live bullets were fired instead of blanks during a special forces open day.
Another two people are in a serious condition.

Seventeen people, 15 of them civilians and two of them soldiers, were injured in the bizarre incident in France, as parachutists from a marines parachute regiment demonstrated to the public the techniques involved in hostage liberation exercises.

According to the army toll, two are in a critical condition after "incomprehensible'' scenes at a barracks near Carcassone, in the country's southwest.

One soldier has been detained, although no explanation was immediately forthcoming for why the wrong ammunition was loaded into weapons.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was urgently awaiting the results of a top-level military probe into the accident, according to a presidential statement.

A regional official, Bernard Lemaire, told France 3 radio that two civilians including one child were "critical''.

He said that investigators believed the deadly ammunition was loaded by mistake.

"The question being asked is 'Did the soldier engage in a criminal act or not?','' Lemaire said.

"For now, no one can answer that, but the theory being worked on is one of error.''



ermmm!! error?! i guess you could say that!!

[morrigan]

French shooting show injures 17

It is not clear whether or not foul play was involved

A military show in south-eastern France has left 17 people wounded, after real bullets were used instead of blanks.
The injured included five children. Four people, including one child, were said to have been seriously hurt - though three have now stabilised.
The incident occurred during a public demonstration of hostage-freeing techniques at a barracks in Aude.
The soldier who fired the shots has been detained - though an official said it was probably an accident.
It is not clear why the wrong ammunition was used in Sunday's demonstration.
But it was "99.9%" likely to be "an unintentional fault," Colonel Benoit Royal, head of the French army's information service, told the AFP news agency on Monday.
'No psychological problems'
However, Defence Minister Herve Morin said: "I cannot rule out anything because we don't know what might be going on in a man's head."
He said "an experienced soldier" should not be able to confuse blanks with real bullets.
"According to initial findings of the inquiry, the incident involved a soldier with a perfect record, who had participated in operations and had seven to eight years of experience," he said.
"There is nothing that would make one think he had behavioural or psychological problems," he added.
Reports from the scene say the hostage scenario had been acted out five times before a crowd at the Laperrine military barracks, near Carcassonne, when on the sixth take real bullets began flying through the air, and onlookers fell to the ground.


Fifteen civilians were among the 17 injured.
Gilles Hulard, a doctor from Carcassonne's rescue service said: "The condition of patients injured the most seriously have stabilised, including that of a three-year-old child very seriously injured, who seems to be improving."
He said the worst injuries were sustained by a man shot in the chest, who was still in critical condition."
In a statement, French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his horror at the incident and said he was urgently waiting for the results of an official investigation.
The president was planning to visit the injured in hospitals in Carcassonne and Toulouse later, his office said.

[zatoichi]

Does not sound like an accident to me, would have thought the BFA on the weapon would have given a clue when a live round hit it. Wait and see i suppose.

[morrigan]

Agreed, after all this is not one 'rogue' live round in a batch of blanks!!!

[K9medic]

Do we know what type of weapon was used, can the French issue BFA blow off if a live round is fired or like ours would it really spoil the firer’s day? If it was “one live round” the amount of changes in direction it would have to make I think we have just found the rest of the batch used to assassinate Kennedy in Dallas.

[morrigan]

Kev the point was that it was obviously not 'one live round' and that therefore it reduces somewhat the chances of it being accidental negligence. One live mag is a possibility of course but less likely to be accidental etc etc etc.

[Legioner]

NO NO and NO the BFA can't shot off from the french FAMAS
because its deepley screwed in.
And even if its possible at least at the first shot he would have recocnised immideately that he fired a real live bullet,because its fucking bursting in your face.
So without making any judgements i don't think it was an accident.

[KLOCKAN]

If you shoot live rounds with a BFA on the Famas ,,,, One thing is sure you will only shoot ONE ,, barrel out and breechblock in your FACE .

Rudy

[shakespeare]

He emptied most of a full live mag into the crowd after a mag change during the display. Thought they were blanks. Only realised they weren't blanks when people started dropping covered in claret. Don't think he'll be selected for the Tireur d' Elite course somehow.

[K9medic]

I’m I being thick here, but how can you fire half a magazine of live rounds by accident? The action wouldn’t cycle without a BFA fitted and a live round into a BFA would really spoil your day. I just can’t see how it’s physically possible to do.