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 12 men received medical treatment and returned to their units on Wednesday, the Singapore Army said in a statement.

The military suspended the exercise overnight “to remind drivers to maintain appropriate distance” between vehicles, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“Following the sharing of the incident, with emphasis on the need to maintain safe distance, especially when driving in poor visibility, training has resumed,” the army statement said.

Eleven of the injured were flown by two helicopters to Rockhampton Hospital for treatment on Tuesday, the Queensland Ambulance Service said in a statement. The hospital said in a statement that the last of the injured was released on Wednesday.

The military has not provided details of where the 12th person who was not airlifted to Rockhampton was being treated.

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.

The Defence Ministry said the armoured vehicles were returning to their base at Shoalwater Bay when they collided.