Gun explodes at Orissa defence testing base, jawan killed

An army jawan was killed and three others were injured when breech of a field gun exploded during trial at a defence testing base at Chandipur, 15km from here today.

The incident took place in Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE) of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) when army personnel were conducting trial of the 130 mm field gun, defence sources said.

Sepoy AK Shukla was killed under the impact of the explosion, while Havildar Devanand Vajpayee, Naib Subedar Venkatesh and Naib Subedar B N R Alok sustained injuries, they said.

The injured defence personnel were admitted to DRDO hospital at Chandipur where the condition of two persons was stated to be critical.

PXE is located near the Integrated Test Range (ITR) of the DRDO.