This is the shocking moment two armoured vehicles dropped to the ground when their parachutes failed to open during a military manoeuvre.
It has also emerged that five paratroopers were injured during the exercise.
Video credit: CEN/@warin4m
The incident which was confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defence took place during the movement of troops and equipment as part of the huge Centre 2019 military drills.
In the footage of the incident, it shows two BMD-2 armoured vehicles as they crash to the ground, with one of them completely destroyed after they were deployed from an IL-76 plane in the Orenburg Oblast region in Russia.
Local media report the plane was flying faster than it should have been when the two armoured vehicles were deployed, and the parachutes of the two vehicles then failed to deploy as a result.
Images show how one of the vehicles was completely destroyed on landing whilst the other had its armoured hull damaged after falling from a height of several hundred metres.
Five paratroopers, jumping separately from the armoured vehicles, were also reportedly injured during the drill and the video shows one of the armoured vehicles crashing to the ground before the paratroopers jump from a plane. It is unclear how the paratroopers were injured and there are no updates on their condition.
First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defence, Alexander Sherin, said: “There are different cases. There is negligence, but there is an accident. It is necessary to conduct such exercises more often, that’s all. To say that it simply should work like clockwork – there are all sorts of factors.”
Sherin added that the cause of the incident with an unopened parachute could be either an accident or worn-out equipment.
Troops from Russia and other nations including India, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan took part in the Centre 2019 military drills from 16th – 21st September with Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting the anti-terrorism drills on 19th September.
The drills saw 20,000 units of equipment used along with 600 unmanned aerial vehicles and up to 15 ships from the Caspian flotilla.
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Story By: Amelia Guran, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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