Jawan killed in blast at Kamptee missile base:
A training exercise at the strategic missile base in Kamptee Cantonment was disrupted on Monday evening following an accident that left a jawan dead and six others injured. The incident was kept under wraps by the army and even the police's entry is being restricted. A FIR was registered at the Kamptee police station only on Tuesday afternoon. The deceased has been identified as Salim Valikar.
After remaining tight-lipped initially, a defence spokesperson at Nagpur came up with a terse statement that an accident had occurred at 5:45pm on Monday in which one personnel died. A court of inquiry and forensic analysis have been initiated. Army sources have ruled out any sabotage in the incident.
The missile unit comes under the strategic command of the Army. The cause of the accident has not been revealed. However, there are various versions doing the round. Civilian authorities involved in investigating the incident said though not much could be revealed due to the country's strategic interest being involved, the blast took place after an underground tank storing an explosive chemical was being cleaned after the material was taken out.
The intensity of the blast could be ascertained from the manner in which the soldier was killed. It has been reported that an iron rod pierced his chest from one left side coming out from the right. The body was sent for postmortem examination at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMCH). The other injured were reported to be out of danger, but the police refused to divulge their names, again citing secrecy as the reason.
Another local source said he had heard a massive blast in the evening. It was learnt that some senior Army officer had been on a visit to the base, and the training exercise was being carried out under his inspection. The source said that the deceased was replenishing a weapon with fuel as the blast occurred.
The missile unit which has been at Kamptee for almost a decade has been dubbed as a top secret base. However, its existence is of common knowledge in the town. Many vendors or automobile garages have regular dealings with the unit and are aware of the presence of a missile base here, said a source. At the same time its picture is also available in Wikimapia along with the coordinates.
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