3 GSDF Members Killed by Shell Explosion inside Tank

Tokyo, April 21 (Jiji Press)–Three Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force members died in an accident Tuesday during a live-fire drill at the Hijudai training area in the southwestern prefecture of Oita. At around 8:40 a.m., a shell exploded inside a state-of-the-art Type 10 tank, killing three crew members–Sgt. 1st Class Kentaro Hamabe, 45, Sgt. Shingo Takayama, 31, and Sgt. Kozo Kanai, 30. Hamabe was a tank commander, Takayama a gunner and Kanai a safety officer, according to the GSDF. Another GSDF member, a tank driver, was seriously injured and taken to a hospital. No damage has been confirmed outside the training range. At a press conference after the accident, GSDF Chief of Staff Gen. Masayoshi Arai said that a 120-millimeter anti-tank shell exploded inside the tank’s turret. The three victims were inside the turret at the time, while the injured member was in the tank’s hull. The training involved three Type 10 tanks of the GSDF Western Army’s tank unit. Following the accident, the GSDF canceled a blank-firing drill with Type 10 tanks and a live-fire drill with Type 90 tanks, which are equipped with 120mm guns. Shinichi Kawano, a 69-year-old former GSDF member who lives near the training area, expressed sympathy for the victims. “The accident may not have occurred if proper safety measures had been taken,” Kawano said. “I didn’t hear an explosion, but three ambulances passed nearby and I thought something must have happened,” said a female worker at a local flower shop. “We can’t see inside the training range, but we hear the sounds of drills on a daily basis,” said a female post office worker. “I don’t know which sound was the sound of a shell exploding.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]