Australian Soldier Dies and Five Injured in Training Exercise
BBC News reports that an Australian soldier has died and five others have been injured during a training exercise in the Northern Territory (NT).
On Monday, the Department of Defence confirmed the incident occurred at the Mount Bundey training area, approximately 80 miles southeast of Darwin. The area is known for its live-fire training, and is the same location where Jason Challis was killed in 2017 during an exercise.
NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro stated that the injured soldiers were airlifted to Royal Darwin Hospital. "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," she said.
The NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole reported that resources were sent to the training area to aid in the department's investigation. "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," he stated.
This incident echoes the 2019 inquest into the death of Challis, who was shot while standing behind a plywood wall during an urban attack exercise. The coroner described the training exercise as “shambolic” and concluded that his death was preventable. In May of this year, Lachlan Muddle, a Special Air Service Regiment soldier, died after a mid-air collision with another paratrooper.