Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 25

An Armyman lost his life due to a fault in a mortar fired during a field firing exercise north of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh today.Sources confirmed that one soldier died and three seriously injured were airlifted to a military hospital in Kolkata. Two other injured are being treated at Tezpur. The blast had such an impact that four trucks and signals equipment were destroyed completely.The location of the firing range is just 10 km short of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. The range is used by Army to practice firing at altitudes more than 9,000 feet.The mortar shell did not travel its entire mandated distance, it changed its trajectory and landed on the four vehicles, killing one person on the spot.Normally, a mortar shell travels on a parabolic trajectory and hits at targets up to 5 km.  A source said this occurs when there is fault in the charge of the mortar.