Bruce in West Oz
New member
Station: ABC 702 2BL Date: 10/August/2000
Program: THE WORLD TODAY Time: 12:21 PM
Compere: JOHN HIGHFIELD
Item: CORPORAL STUART JONES OF THE ADF WAS SHOT ACCIDENTALLY IN EAST TIMOR LAST NIGHT.
INTERVIEWEES: COLONEL GREG BAKER, ADF DEFENCE MINISTER JOHN MOORE
COMPERE:
Corporal Stuart McMillan Jones of Darwin became the second Australian soldier to die on active service in East Timor last night. His fatal wound came from the accidental discharge of a weapon when the vehicle in which he was travelling with other members of his platoon rode over a bump. The Australian Army says it's the first time an incident like this has figured in a death. The Australian/UN patrol was working in the dangerous border area near Maliana, notorious for the incursion of militia death squads from West Timor looking for trophies. It's an area for fire-ready weapons obviously.
Nevertheless, as Michael Vincent reports, there's a full-scale technicalinvestigation under way.
MICHAEL VINCENT:
Twenty-seven year old Corporal Jones was fatally shot by a rifle while riding in the back of an Aslav light armoured vehicle with five other soldiers late yesterday. Commander of the Australian contingent in East Timor, Colonel Greg Baker, explains how they believe a rifle accidentally went off.
COL GREG BAKER:
There were a number of rifles that were sitting in the back of the vehicle. They were sitting on some of the patrol's packs.
The vehicle that was moving at the time and crossing some rough terrain, it caused the vehicle to jolt, which we think possibly dislodged one or more of the weapons that were in the back of the vehicle. Then one of --- we think what's happened then was one of the rifles accidentally discharged, wounding Corporal Jones.
MICHAEL VINCENT:
The bullet hit the 27 year old in the upper,
left chest. Immediately his fellow soldiers from the Sixth Battalion began delivering first aid, and within minutes a Black Hawk helicopter carrying an air evacuation medical team arrived on the site. The medics managed to stabilise the young soldier before transferring him into the Black Hawk. They lifted off and headed for the United Nations hospital in Dili, but Corporal Jones didn't make it, dying enroute.
His fellow soldiers are left to wonder why the 27 year old was shot by one of their own weapons. Colonel Baker says it's procedure for troops to keep their fully loaded weapons on safety while travelling.
COL GREG BAKER:
The weapons are carried in a loaded state because the men and women that are serving across here are serving on active service
in a very dangerous area of operations. It's normal procedure that the weapons are carried in a loaded state, and at this stage I really can't say whether there'll be any changes to those procedures. It'll be up to the board of inquiry to look at that sort of thing.
MICHAEL VINCENT:
Has an incident like this ever occurred before, even with no one being injured, or maybe even someone only being wounded?
COL GREG BAKER:
Not really, not an incident like this one, certainly not in my 26 years in the Army have I heard of a weapon discharging in the back of a vehicle in this fashion.
MICHAEL VINCENT:
It's the second Australian fatality since the
operation in East Timor began last September. The first Australian soldier died of a tropical disease.
Defence Minister, John Moore, says Corporal Jones' death was a tragic accident.
JOHN MOORE:
In the rush of the moment, in the rough terrain in which they were working, under the pressure in which they work, regrettably
accidents do happen from time to time. But the record, I think, has been -- considering the number of people we've had there, considering the conditions they're working under, I think they've done a very good job.
MICHAEL VINCENT:
A service will be held for Corporal Jones before his body is flown out of Dili today, with a further memorial service planned for tomorrow. Colonel Baker says the Australian troops, especially the 6th Battalion with whom Corporal Jones served, are troubled by the loss of the young soldier.
COL GREG BAKER:
They're feeling it obviously very heavily. He was one of their mates and had served with them for quite some time across there in East Timor, so they're taking it very hard at the moment.
COMPERE:
Colonel Greg Baker is Commander of the Australian Contingent to the UN Forces in East Timor, and Michael Vincent with our
story there.[/quote]
And from today's newspaper:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The handling procedures for Steyr rifles were were reviewed in the wake of the Somalia operation and new procedures were in force during the subsequent operation in Rwanda to avoid accidental firings.
On arrival at barracks, soldiers had to fire their rifles into sandbags and ensure no unspent bullets remained inside them, with the threat of penalties for anyone who failed to do so.[/quote]
Say what?? You unload the damn things by firing them into sandbags??
Something's fishier here than in the state of Denmark.
B
Program: THE WORLD TODAY Time: 12:21 PM
Compere: JOHN HIGHFIELD
Item: CORPORAL STUART JONES OF THE ADF WAS SHOT ACCIDENTALLY IN EAST TIMOR LAST NIGHT.
INTERVIEWEES: COLONEL GREG BAKER, ADF DEFENCE MINISTER JOHN MOORE
COMPERE:
Corporal Stuart McMillan Jones of Darwin became the second Australian soldier to die on active service in East Timor last night. His fatal wound came from the accidental discharge of a weapon when the vehicle in which he was travelling with other members of his platoon rode over a bump. The Australian Army says it's the first time an incident like this has figured in a death. The Australian/UN patrol was working in the dangerous border area near Maliana, notorious for the incursion of militia death squads from West Timor looking for trophies. It's an area for fire-ready weapons obviously.
Nevertheless, as Michael Vincent reports, there's a full-scale technicalinvestigation under way.
MICHAEL VINCENT:
Twenty-seven year old Corporal Jones was fatally shot by a rifle while riding in the back of an Aslav light armoured vehicle with five other soldiers late yesterday. Commander of the Australian contingent in East Timor, Colonel Greg Baker, explains how they believe a rifle accidentally went off.
COL GREG BAKER:
There were a number of rifles that were sitting in the back of the vehicle. They were sitting on some of the patrol's packs.
The vehicle that was moving at the time and crossing some rough terrain, it caused the vehicle to jolt, which we think possibly dislodged one or more of the weapons that were in the back of the vehicle. Then one of --- we think what's happened then was one of the rifles accidentally discharged, wounding Corporal Jones.
MICHAEL VINCENT:
The bullet hit the 27 year old in the upper,
left chest. Immediately his fellow soldiers from the Sixth Battalion began delivering first aid, and within minutes a Black Hawk helicopter carrying an air evacuation medical team arrived on the site. The medics managed to stabilise the young soldier before transferring him into the Black Hawk. They lifted off and headed for the United Nations hospital in Dili, but Corporal Jones didn't make it, dying enroute.
His fellow soldiers are left to wonder why the 27 year old was shot by one of their own weapons. Colonel Baker says it's procedure for troops to keep their fully loaded weapons on safety while travelling.
COL GREG BAKER:
The weapons are carried in a loaded state because the men and women that are serving across here are serving on active service
in a very dangerous area of operations. It's normal procedure that the weapons are carried in a loaded state, and at this stage I really can't say whether there'll be any changes to those procedures. It'll be up to the board of inquiry to look at that sort of thing.
MICHAEL VINCENT:
Has an incident like this ever occurred before, even with no one being injured, or maybe even someone only being wounded?
COL GREG BAKER:
Not really, not an incident like this one, certainly not in my 26 years in the Army have I heard of a weapon discharging in the back of a vehicle in this fashion.
MICHAEL VINCENT:
It's the second Australian fatality since the
operation in East Timor began last September. The first Australian soldier died of a tropical disease.
Defence Minister, John Moore, says Corporal Jones' death was a tragic accident.
JOHN MOORE:
In the rush of the moment, in the rough terrain in which they were working, under the pressure in which they work, regrettably
accidents do happen from time to time. But the record, I think, has been -- considering the number of people we've had there, considering the conditions they're working under, I think they've done a very good job.
MICHAEL VINCENT:
A service will be held for Corporal Jones before his body is flown out of Dili today, with a further memorial service planned for tomorrow. Colonel Baker says the Australian troops, especially the 6th Battalion with whom Corporal Jones served, are troubled by the loss of the young soldier.
COL GREG BAKER:
They're feeling it obviously very heavily. He was one of their mates and had served with them for quite some time across there in East Timor, so they're taking it very hard at the moment.
COMPERE:
Colonel Greg Baker is Commander of the Australian Contingent to the UN Forces in East Timor, and Michael Vincent with our
story there.[/quote]
And from today's newspaper:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The handling procedures for Steyr rifles were were reviewed in the wake of the Somalia operation and new procedures were in force during the subsequent operation in Rwanda to avoid accidental firings.
On arrival at barracks, soldiers had to fire their rifles into sandbags and ensure no unspent bullets remained inside them, with the threat of penalties for anyone who failed to do so.[/quote]
Say what?? You unload the damn things by firing them into sandbags??
Something's fishier here than in the state of Denmark.
B
