Monday, July 27, 2009

Russian warship accidentally fires artillery shell into apartment block courtyard

A Russian warship preparing for a holiday celebration accidentally fired a dummy artillery shell into the courtyard of an apartment building.

Nobody was hurt but the shell's impact broke windows and left a small crater outside the nine-storey apartment building in Vladivostok, a port city on Russia's Pacific Ocean coast close to China and Japan.

"There were no explosives in the dummy shell,'' Roman Martov, a spokesman for Russia's Vladivostok-based Pacific Fleet, said.



"The reasons why the rocket-assisted projectile flew a greater distance than it had been assigned are unknown,'' he added.

Local police said in a statement that the impact shattered the windows of several apartments and scattered fragments of rock and glass on nearby cars, but added that there were no injuries.

The warship that fired the shell was taking part in rehearsals for planned celebrations of the annual Navy Day holiday, which traditionally include a ceremonial procession of warships and mock naval battles.

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