BRUSSELS (AP) – Two Dutch marines were injured Thursday during their parachute jump in Belgium. One soldier was injured when his parachute became entangled with that of a colleague, Defense reports. The injured soldier was taken to hospital; the other was not injured. Another Marine suffered minor injuries when he landed incorrectly. Defense does not want to say anything about the injuries, but states that those involved are easily approachable.
The incidents happened during an exercise above a military site in Diest, near Leuven, where the Dutch army practices. The soldiers had been dropped from an Air Force Hercules transport aircraft. The events are under investigation.
Earlier Thursday, the Public Prosecution Service in Leuven confirmed an accident with one injured soldier and that it did not appear to be intentional. Belgian justice is extra alert to accidents involving a parachute after a high-profile lawsuit in 2009, which became known as the ‘parachute murder’. Then a parachute was deliberately disabled.
