In a rarely-seen admission, Chinese state media recently reported an accident at a military base in Jilin Province. During the testing of a new machine gun model, the bullet became stuck and exploded in the chamber, resulting in serious facial injuries to a PLA soldier.
Bullet fragments embedded in sharp shooter Hu Aijun’s face, and he collapsed on the spot, Chinese Science and Technology Daily reported. The unconscious Hu was immediately taken to an emergency room where he received 30 stitches on his face. Hu’s mouth was swollen and he had difficulty talking.
Specific information about the machine gun, the exact cause and date of the accident, were not revealed in the report.
Access to the Chinese Science and Technology Daily web site presently appears to be blocked, but the article was reprinted on Dec. 22 and 23 on at least two other Chinese websites, news.ccvic.com and mil.gmw.cn.
The Chinese regime considers weapons testing a national secret, and it is unusual to see reports of military accidents in Chinese media.
Voice of America said it generally takes many years for a Chinese military test failure report to be declassified, even if the equipment is close to retirement.
China Youth Daily recently also revealed a Chinese Air Force testing failure of a new giant ground-drilling bomb weighing several tons. During the high explosive dynamite TNT performance trial in a shooting range, one bomb failed to explode and was located and detonated by bomb disposal experts 4.7 meters underground, it said.
Read the original Chinese article.
