Marine Killed Clearing Unexploded Munitions
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An El Toro-based Marine was killed Tuesday by an exploding grenade as he cleared munitions from a firing range near the Marine Corps base at Twentynine Palms, officials said.
The Marine, who was not named pending notification of family, was part of a team of ordnance technicians searching out unexploded munitions on the range after a recent training exercise, Marine officials said. He was a member of the Marine Wing Support Squadron 373 based at El Toro.
The M-42 grenade, part of an artillery round, went off in the victim’s hand during the morning cleanup, said El Toro spokesman Cpl. Chris W. Cox. The soldier died at 12:58 p.m.
Nearly 90 of the grenades are contained in a single howitzer round, said Cpl. Rich Hancock, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms.
The firing range is about 20 miles from the main base.
The incident is being investigated by the base’s Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Hancock said.
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