An Australian soldier has died and five others have been injured after a vehicle crashed during a training exercise in the Northern Territory (NT).
Police said the vehicle rolled over at the Mount Bundey training area, about 130km (80 mi) southeast of Darwin, on Monday afternoon.
Emergency crews declared Corporal Brendan Hannam, 28, dead at the scene, and helicopters and planes airlifted the five other soldiers to hospital in Darwin.
The army uses the area for live fire training. It is also where Jason Challis died in 2017 after being shot in the head during an exercise. The department later pleaded guilty to failing to comply with workplace safety requirements.
Monday’s crash marks the second death of an Australian soldier this year. In May, a paratrooper died after a mid-air collision during training.
The Department of Defence confirmed the incident on Tuesday but gave no further details. It asked the public to respect the privacy of the soldiers and families affected.
NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro told national broadcaster ABC that a helicopter took two of the injured soldiers to Royal Darwin Hospital, while a plane carried the other three there on Monday evening.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family who are obviously devastated by this loss and of course, the support of our entire community is there for all of our service personnel who will be feeling this loss immensely,” she said.
The ABC also reported that NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole sent resources to the Mount Bundey training area to assist the department’s investigation.
“We can’t comment on the cause of the injury to the defence personnel but we are assisting and were helping to investigate on behalf of the coroner,” Dole said, according to the ABC.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his thoughts were with the victims’ family and friends. “There are no safe or easy days for those who serve in our country’s name,” he added.
During a 2019 inquest into the death of Challis, a 25-year-old soldier from Victoria, the coroner called the training exercise “shambolic” and said his death was preventable.
Challis had less than a year’s experience with the defence force. He was shot in the head and knee while standing behind a plywood wall during an urban attack exercise.
In May this year, Lachlan Muddle, a Special Air Service Regiment soldier, died after a mid-air collision with another paratrooper at the Jervis Bay airfield in New South Wales. He fell to the ground after the collision.
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