7 Marines killed in explosion during training exercise at Army depot in Nevada

Corps suspends mortar use after blast kills 7
Dead, wounded from 1st Battalion, 9th Marines
Marine Corps Times
By Hope Hodge
Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 19, 2013 12:32:03 EDT

Seven North Carolina-based Marines were killed and several others were injured after a 60mm mortar exploded Monday night during live-fire training at Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada.

They were assigned to 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Times has learned. On Tuesday, the service issued an indefinite moratorium on firing 60mm mortars until an investigation determines they’re safe, a Marine official told The Associated Press.

The accident occurred just before 10 p.m., said Capt. Binford Strickland, a spokesman for II Marine Expeditionary Force, the battalion’s parent command. Marine officials have not identified anyone involved in the incident, nor have they said how many were injured, but media in nearby Reno, Nev., reported Tuesday morning that eight patients were taken to local hospitals for treatment and that at least one was subsequently released.

Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, the area’s major trauma hospital, took eight patients, including one who died, according to spokeswoman Stacy Kendall. Three were listed in serious condition.
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7 Marines killed in explosion during training exercise at Army depot in Nevada
By Jim Miklaszewski and Erin McClam
NBC News

Seven U.S. Marines were killed and at least seven wounded when a mortar exploded during a live-fire training exercise overnight at an Army munitions depot in the Nevada desert, military officials told NBC News.

There were conflicting reports about what happened. According to one account, a 60-millimeter mortar shell exploded in a tube as Marines were preparing to fire it. Another account said that the shell exploded as Marines were picking it up to load it.

The accident happened at Hawthorne Army Depot, a 147,000-acre ammunition storage and training facility just east of the California line.

Four Marines were killed instantly, military officials told NBC News. The two others died while waiting to be flown to the hospital.
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