Mortar explosion in Nev. kills 7 NC unit Marines Associated Press Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 9:25 am, Tuesday, March 19, 2013 (AP) — Seven Marines from a North Carolina unit were killed when a 60mm mortar exploded unexpectedly at a Nevada military depot that's an important training facility for troops headed overseas, a Marine Corps official said. The Marines immediately issued an indefinite moratorium on firing of all such mortars worldwide until an investigation clears as safe the type of weapon and ammunition in the tragedy. The Marine Corps official said it was unclear why the mortar exploded unexpectedly or whether the shell exploded before it had been expelled from its firing tube. An explosion at the point of firing in a training exercise could kill or maim anyone inside or nearby the protective mortar pit and could concussively detonate any mortars stored nearby in a phenomenon known as "sympathetic detonation." The official did not know whether the seven dead Marines and several others who were hurt were in the same firing pit, standing nearby for training observation or in an adjoining mortar pit, but any of those situations would have been them in danger after such an explosion. The official said a worldwide moratorium after such an accident is not unusual and would persist until the investigation determines that the weapon did not malfunction in ways that would hurt other Marines or that mortars manufactured at the same time as the one involved in the accident were safe to continue to use. The site currently serves several purposes for the military, including storing ammunition and explosives and providing what the military calls an ideal training facility for special forces preparing for deployments to similar desert terrain in places like Afghanistan.

 

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