Veteran killed by old shell

RESPECTED: Flight Sergeant Andrew Bruce Forster was killed instantly when marking the location of an unexploded shell.

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Three weeks ago Flight Sergeant Andrew Forster was in Afghanistan defusing bombs planted by the Taleban. Yesterday an old artillery shell exploded and killed the 46-year-old outright. A colleague next to him escaped with scratches.

A stake had been driven into the ground to mark the location of the shell. The two men were about two metres away when the shell detonated during an exercise at the Waiouru Military Camp in the central North Island yesterday.

"We've lost a very well liked and respected flight sergeant. As a Defence Force family we all share this grief," Air Vice-Marshall Graham Lintott said.

"The other chap is extraordinarily lucky to get away with his life, let alone superficial injuries."

Mr Forster, a 27-year veteran with a wife and three children, had returned to New Zealand after working as a bomb disposal expert for the Defence Force in Bamiyan province, where New Zealand's provincial reconstruction team is based.

He was described as one of the Defence Force's most experienced armaments specialists and had previously worked on Skyhawks.

The men found the unexploded 105 millimetre shell on Wednesday but did not have the equipment to mark the area.

They returned yesterday morning with a wooden stake and a sign to warn people away from the area.

The shell exploded when the stake was put in the ground.

"It was a freak accident. It was a routine operation," Mr Lintott said.

The sergeant radioed for help, but Mr Forster had died instantly. The sergeant was "lightly" injured and taken to hospital.

It is not known how long the shell had been there, but Mr Lintott said it was covered in rust.

It is standard practice for troops to look out for shells to ensure they have exploded on impact. When they do not, armaments specialists use explosive devices to detonate them.

Mr Lintott said that once fired some shells failed to detonate and buried themselves, but some eventually worked their way to the surface as in this case. Though dangerous, marking unexploded devices was a task all troops were trained how to do.

The shell had a lethal range of about 50 metres and could cause shrapnel damage up to 250 metres away.

Defence Minister Wayne Mapp said there would be an inquiry into the death. "But he was essentially marking munitions for later disposal. They receive a very high level of training but it is an inherently dangerous job. Everyone volunteers for it."

Line Of Duty

Two soldiers are injured in a live firing exercise in Waiouru in 2006. A work party was collecting spent ammunition from rifles, heavy machineguns and grenade launchers when a high-explosive round detonated.

Three soldiers died in 2005 when their Unimog vehicle plunged 100 metres into Kawarau Gorge near Queenstown. The soldiers were in the area as part of a driving training exercise.

A soldier was injured in 2001 after being hit in the leg with two rounds of ammunition during a live firing exercise at Waiouru.

A soldier was wounded in 2001 during a live-firing training exercise near Greymouth. He was hit in the thigh from a ricochet.

A blizzard on Mt Ruapehu in 1990 killed six soldiers during a training exercise. Only two people from the group survived.

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