Australian soldier dies and five injured in training exercise
The incident happened on Monday at the Mount Bundey training area, about 130km southeast of Darwin.
Australian soldier dies and five injured in training exercise
An Australian army soldier died on Monday during a training exercise in the Northern Territory
An Australian soldier has died and five others have been injured during a training exercise in the Northern Territory (NT).
On Tuesday, the Department of Defence confirmed the incident took place on Monday at the Mount Bundey training area, around 130km (80 miles) southeast of Darwin, but provided no additional details.
The site, which the army uses for live fire training, is the same place where Jason Challis was killed in 2017 after being shot in the head during an exercise. The department later pleaded guilty to failing to comply with workplace safety.
Monday's incident is the second death of an Australian soldier this year, after a paratrooper died following a mid-air collision during training in May.
NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the five injured soldiers were airlifted to hospital on Monday evening, according to national broadcaster ABC.
"The Northern Territory supported two injured evacuations by helicopter to Royal Darwin Hospital at about 7:30 last night and another three by plane at about 9:30 last night," she said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family who are obviously devastated by this loss and of course, the support of our entire community is there for all of our service personnel who will be feeling this loss immensely."
The ABC also reported that NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole had sent resources to the Mount Bundey training area to assist the department's investigation into the incident.
"We can't comment on the cause of the injury to the defence personnel but we are assisting and were helping to investigate on behalf of the coroner," Dole said, according to the ABC.
At a 2019 inquest into the death of Challis, a 25-year-old soldier from Victoria, the coroner called the training exercise "shambolic" and said his death had been preventable.
Challis, who had less than a year's experience with the defence force, was shot in the head and knee while standing behind a plywood wall during an urban attack exercise.
In May this year, Lachlan Muddle - a Special Air Service Regiment soldier - died after falling to the ground following a mid-air collision with another paratrooper at the Jervis Bay airfield in New South Wales.