'United in grief': Canadian Prime Minister leads moment of silence for those killed, injured in military base explosionhttps://abcnews.com/International/multiple-people-killed-dozens-injured-explosion-canadian-military/story?id=137359465The deadly blast occurred on Saturday afternoon, igniting a massive fire that was fanned by high winds and spread from the sprawling military facility into the surrounding rural area, Canadian officials said.
During a news conference on Sunday, Carney said at least four service members were killed in the blast and subsequent "violent fire," and that "dozens more are seriously wounded."
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The four service members were identified as Sgt. Morgan Wong, Pvt. Shaun Farrell, Pvt. Aidan Goulding and Pvt. Hayden Lykkemark, according to a press release from the Canadian government.
In addition to those killed, 39 Canadian Armed Forces members sustained injuries, the release noted.
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Multiple Canadian Armed Forces sources told CGTV's Global News that the incident occurred during a live-fire training exercise, and that a gas line or a gas well was struck and ignited the explosion.
A fire erupted within the training area of the military base around 4 p.m. local time on Saturday, officials said.
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During a news conference on Sunday afternoon, Canadian military officials acknowledged they were aware of the grass fire for several hours before the blaze rapidly spread towards the training area where soldiers were taking part in exercises.
"The fire was a kilometre [0.62 miles] away when the wind shifted. It is not normal for a fire to move a kilometre in 30 to 60 seconds," Maj. Gen. L.W. Rutland said at the news conference.
He said the soldiers killed and injured were taking part in a training exercise ahead of deployment to Latvia. The Canadian Armed Forces will undertake a board of inquiry to examine the event, Rutland noted.
I was following this some yesterday, but the information was, to me, too incomplete and uncertain.
My one question is, why were live fire exercises be carried out in high wind conditions? OK, two ... gas wells or pipelines near munitions practice ranges? Does Camp Pendleton, which is in SoCal where oil is produced and refined, have munitions ranges near oil/gas wells or pipelines?
