SEOUL — A South Korean fighter jet accidentally dropped eight bombs on a civilian area during training on Thursday, injuring eight people, officials said.
The MK-82 bombs “abnormally” released by the KF-16 fighter jet fell outside a firing range, causing civilian damages, the air force said in a statement.
The air force said it will establish a committee to investigate why the accident happened and examine the scale of civilian damages. It said the fighter jet was taking part in the air force’s joint live-firing drills with the army.
The air force apologized for the incident and expressed hopes for a speedy recovery of the injured people. It said it will actively offer compensation and take other necessary steps.
The accident happened in Pocheon, a city close to the heavily armed border with North Korea. Pocheon’s disaster response center said that six civilians and two soldiers were injured and they were receiving treatments at hospitals.
Center officials said the conditions of four of the injured were serious and that they are all civilians. They said two of the seriously injured are foreigners—one Thai and one Myanmar.
Three houses were partially damaged, a Catholic church and a greenhouse but they did not appear to have been directly hit by the bombs, according to the Pocheon center.
