An error from a pilot was the cause of the incident in which a fighter jet of the South Korean Air Force has unloaded eight bombs outside the practice zone. At least fifteen were injured. The Air Force confirms that.
The bombs ended up in Pocheon, about 42 kilometers northeast of the capital Seoul and about 25 kilometers south of the Demarcation line with the nuclear armed North Korea. Among other things, a church and two houses would have been damaged. Fifteen people were injured, there are two soldiers and two foreigners among the victims. Ten victims were transferred to the hospital for care.
The army said that the fighter plane participated in “an exercise with real ammunition” of the Air Force and the Army. “Eight MK-82 bombs were abnormally dropped by a KF-16 aircraft of the Air Force and exploded outside the planned perimeter,” says the Air Force Declaration.
According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, South Korea held “exercises with the United States in Pocheon” on Thursday. The Air Force says it has opened an investigation and apologized to the affected citizens.