Dutch paratroopers crash in Diest | Diest

Schaffen airfield is still used by the Belgian armed forces, and therefore also by our allies. On Thursday afternoon, paratroopers from the Dutch army were conducting a jumping exercise when things went seriously wrong. Two soldiers who had taken off in the Netherlands saw their parachutes become entangled and crashed. Both survived the accident: miraculously, only one of them was slightly injured. He was taken to hospital.

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Paratroopers from the Dutch army often train in Schaffen. They also did that last week. It is reported that one of the paratroopers ended up outside the drop zone. It is not clear whether there is a connection, but the Dutch armed forces have recently also been reported to use a new type of parachute to jump.

“There is always a small chance that a jump will go wrong,” says Adjutant Major Ponet of the Belgian Armed Forces. “And that has now happened. But everyone did the right thing. It is now up to our Dutch colleagues to investigate what exactly went wrong.”