From: SSAA, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Station: ABC 702 2BL Date: 10/08/2000
Program: THE WORLD TODAY Time: 12:21 PM
Compere: JOHN HIGHFIELD
Item: CORPORAL STUART JONES OF THE ADF WAS SHOT ACCIDENTALLY IN EAST
TIMOR LAST NIGHT.
INTERVIEWEES: COLONEL GREG BAKER, ADF
DEFENCE MINISTER JOHN MOORE
COMPERE: Corporal Stuart McMillan Jones of Darwin became the
second Australian soldier to die on active service in East Timor last
night. His fatal wound came from the accidental discharge of a weapon
when the vehicle in which he was travelling with other members of his
platoon rode over a bump. The Australian Army says it's the first time
an incident like this has figured in a death. The Australian/UN patrol
was working in the dangerous border area near Maliana, notorious for the
incursion of militia death squads from West Timor looking for trophies.
It's an area for fire-ready weapons obviously.
Nevertheless, as Michael Vincent reports, there's a full-scale technical
investigation under way.
MICHAEL VINCENT: Twenty-seven year old Corporal Jones was fatally
shot by a rifle while riding in the back of an Aslav light armoured
vehicle with five other soldiers late yesterday. Commander of the
Australian contingent in East Timor, Colonel Greg Baker, explains how
they believe a rifle accidentally went off.
COL GREG BAKER: There were a number of rifles that were sitting in the
back of the vehicle. They were sitting on some of the patrol's packs.
The vehicle that was moving at the time and crossing some rough terrain,
it caused the vehicle to jolt, which we think possibly dislodged one or
more of the weapons that were in the back of the vehicle. Then one of -
we think what's happened then was one of the rifles accidentally
discharged, wounding Corporal Jones.
MICHAEL VINCENT: The bullet hit the 27 year old in the upper,
left chest. Immediately his fellow soldiers from the Sixth Battalion
began delivering first aid, and within minutes a Black Hawk helicopter
carrying an air evacuation medical team arrived on the site. The medics
managed to stabilise the young soldier before transferring him into the
Black Hawk. They lifted off and headed for the United Nations hospital
in Dili, but Corporal Jones didn't make it, dying en -route.
His fellow soldiers are left to wonder why the 27 year old was shot by
one of their own weapons. Colonel Baker says it's procedure for troops
to keep their fully loaded weapons on safety while travelling.
COL GREG BAKER: The weapons are carried in a loaded state because the
men and women that are serving across here are serving on active service
in a very dangerous area of operations. It's normal procedure that the
weapons are carried in a loaded state, and at this stage I really can't
say whether there'll be any changes to those procedures. It'll be up to
the board of inquiry to look at that sort of thing.
MICHAEL VINCENT: Has an incident like this ever occurred before,
even with no one being injured, or maybe even someone only being
wounded?
COL GREG BAKER: Not really, not an incident like this one, certainly not
in my 26 years in the Army have I heard of a weapon discharging in the
back of a vehicle in this fashion.
MICHAEL VINCENT: It's the second Australian fatality since the
operation in East Timor began last September. The first Australian
soldier died of a tropical disease.
Defence Minister, John Moore, says Corporal Jones' death was a tragic
accident.
JOHN MOORE: In the rush of the moment, in the rough terrain in which
they were working, under the pressure in which they work, regrettably
accidents do happen from time to time. But the record, I think, has
been - considering the number of people we've had there, considering the
conditions they're working under, I think they've done a very good job.
MICHAEL VINCENT: A service will be held for Corporal Jones before
his body is flown out of Dili today, with a further memorial service
planned for tomorrow. Colonel Baker says the Australian troops,
especially the 6th Battalion with whom Corporal Jones served, are
troubled by the loss of the young soldier.
COL GREG BAKER: They're feeling it obviously very heavily. He was one
of their mates and had served with them for quite some time across there
in East Timor, so they're taking it very hard at the moment.
COMPERE: Colonel Greg Baker is Commander of the Australian
Contingent to the UN Forces in East Timor, and Michael Vincent with our
story there.
* * End * *
--
This sounds like the classic AUG bug, the rifle fell over, the crossbolt
safety landed on something and was disengaged, the trigger
was jarred somehow, bang.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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