Thirteen people died in a blast during the disposal of expired military ammunition in Indonesia’s West Java on Monday, army officials told local media, the second incident involving expired ammunition in the country in little over a year.
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The blast happened when Indonesian troops attempted to dispose of rejected munitions by detonating them in a pit in Garut district, West Java province, about 300km (190 miles) from the capital.
“While the team was arranging the detonator inside the pit, suddenly an explosion happened, causing 13 people to die,” army spokesman Wahyu Yudhayana said.
He told a press conference that two batches of ammunition had been successfully disposed of before a third attempt went wrong.
The location — vacant land in Sagara village of Garut district under the management of West Java’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency — is far from residential areas and often used for munitions disposal.
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Nine of the victims were civilians while four were military personnel, military spokesman Kristomei Sianturi told Kompas TV, adding that the military was investigating the cause of the incident.