Five soldiers were being treated in Cork last night after a 60mm mortar shoot at the Kilworth shooting range in Co Cork went badly wrong. One was seriously injured and in danger of losing her left hand.
According to an Army spokesman last evening, the explosion occurred just after 6 p.m. and left Private Laura Guerin (19) with severe injuries.
She was undergoing surgery last night at Cork University Hospital. Her injuries were said to be serious but not life-threatening.
Her left hand was badly damaged when the explosion occurred as a mortar was being loaded. The Army would not say whether her hand could be saved.
The others who were injured, all under 20 years of age, were Corporal Thomas McGrath, Private Seamus Doolin, Private Derek Dinan and Private William O'Hare.
Pte O'Hare was attached to the Fourth Battalion at Collins Barracks in Cork. The other injured soldiers were attached to the support company of the Twelfth Battalion at Clonmel.
The male soldiers were brought to the military hospital at Collins Barracks for treatment last night. They were said to be suffering from shock and superficial wounds.
According to the Army in Cork, explosives specialists and military police travelled last night to the Kilworth ranges to begin an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the explosion.
The last serious incident involving an Army exercise on a shooting range occurred on May 26th, 1977, when five soldiers were killed an explosion at the Glen of Imaal, Co Wicklow. They were on a training exercise involving 81mm mortars.
They had been practice-firing the mortars, which are capable of throwing a 7lb shell, packed with TNT, over a distance of 3,400 yards.
Mortar bombs are designed to arm themselves after they are fired, and once they have achieved a specific velocity. On hitting the ground they explode, scattering shrapnel over a radius of at least 300 yards.
Mortar crews consist of five soldiers, one of whom has the task of loading the bomb into the firing tube.
The Wicklow explosion 20 years ago was the worst military accident since 16 officers and men died in the same area during a landmine demonstration in 1941.