F-16 fighter jet accidentally fires on New Jersey school

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041105/323/f62no.html


WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US air force is investigating an incident in which an F-16 fighter on a training mission accidentally sprayed a New Jersey school with non-explosive rounds of 20-mm ammunition, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Air National Guard said.

No one was injured in the incident which occurred at around 9:00 pm Wednesday (0200 GMT Thursday), said Lieutenant Colonel Roberta Niedt.

Niedt said the F-16, which was assigned to the District of Columbia Air National Guard, was in the airspace of a New Jersey gunnery range when it accidentally discharged 25 training rounds.

"An undetermined number of rounds hit the Little Egg Harbor Township Intermediate School," she said.

She said a couple of rounds hit the parking lot, and police reported that five rounds went through the school roof.

No one was in the building at the time.

Damage to the school was described as minor, and classes were expected to resume Monday on schedule.

Operations have been suspended at the 2,400 acre Warren Grove Gunnery Range, the largest of its kind in the United States and a primary training site in the northeastern United States.

The air force as well as local authorities are investigating the incident, Neidt said.

"The National Guard takes this situation very seriously," she said. "The safety of our people and the surrounding communities are our foremost concern."