12 Singaporean soldiers injured in collision between two armoured vehicles in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia — Twelve service members were injured when two Singaporean armoured vehicles collided during a training exercise in Australia, officials said Wednesday.

The personnel “suffered non-serious injuries” when a Hunter armoured fighting vehicle “collided from behind” on Tuesday at the Shoalwater Bay military training area in Queensland state, Singapore’s defence ministry said in a statement.

The injured were airlifted to hospital for treatment, and Rockhampton Hospital said in a statement that all had been released on Wednesday.

The Singapore Armed Forces is conducting Exercise Wallaby, its largest overseas unilateral exercise involving 6,200 personnel.

The annual exercise involving the army and air force has been taking place in a training area that covers a stretch of remote Australian coastline four times the size of Singapore since 1990.

The exercise began on September 8 and will continue for eight weeks until November 3.

Singapore’s defence ministry said the armoured vehicles were returning to their base at Shoalwater Bay when they collided.

“The Army has requested a safety pause to remind drivers to maintain appropriate distance” between vehicles, the statement said.