Depot blast kills 7 US Marines

HANDOUT

Lance Cpl. Brandon Walker, an antitank missileman with Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, launches a guided missile during training at the Hawthorne Ammunition Depot in Hawthorne, Nevada, in this June 18, 2009 handout photo courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps. REUTERS/U.S. Marine Corps/ Lance Cpl. M. C. Nerl/Handout

LAS VEGAS - An explosion at a U.S. Army munitions depot in western Nevada killed seven Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and injured seven more during a training exercise, U.S. military officials said on Tuesday.

Army and Marine officials said the cause of the Monday night blast was under investigation, but a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity said initial reports from the scene indicated that a 60 mm mortar round exploded in the tube of a mortar firing point.

The official said three Marines were killed instantly.

Victims were airlifted to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada with injuries that included penetration trauma, fractures and vascular injuries, said Stacy Kendall, a spokeswoman for the medical center. The status of the injured was unclear.

The explosion occurred at 10 p.m. PDT (5 a.m. GMT Tuesday) during a Marine training exercise at the Hawthorne Army Depot, about 92 miles (152 km) southeast of Reno, said facility manager Russ Collier.

Hawthorne Army Depot is a 147 000-acre site used for the storage and destruction of demilitarized ammunition. It was first established as a naval staging area for bombs, rockets and ammunition, and was used by the U.S. Navy during most of World War Two. The facility was transferred to the Army in 1977.

The names of the dead and injured will be released following the notification of their families.

The accident came a week after a U.S. military plane assigned to a Washington state Naval Air Station crashed during a routine training flight, killing all three crew members on board. - Reuters