NSFs escape serious injury during grenade throwing exercise gone wrong
Two full-time National Servicemen (NSFs) escaped serious injury during a hand grenade throwing exercise gone wrong on Friday morning at Pulau Tekong.
A practice throw earlier in the morning passed smoothly without incident.
But when it came to the live exercise, Recruit Abdul Hamid Bin Abdul Smad accidentally released the hand grenade lever while pulling out the safety pin. A normal throw sees one depress the lever while the safety pin is pulled out, before the grenade is thrown towards the target area.
Fortunately, the safety officer on duty, 2LT Kamalasivam S/O Shanmuganathan, immediately told the recruit to throw the live grenade towards the designated impact area, before pulling him down to take cover in the throwing bay.
The grenade detonated in mid-air away from the bay, with the recruit sustaining an injury to a finger on his right hand while 2LT Kamalasivam was injured on his left shoulder.
Both NSFs were treated on site and subsequently sent to Changi General Hospital (CGH) at 11.45am, less than an hour after the incident.
Both are stable and conscious, and currently under observation in the general ward in CGH.
Live hand grenade training has been suspended until investigations are completed.
A MINDEF statement said the "alertness and quick action of 2LT Kamalasivam averted more serious injury to both the recruit and himself".
Last September, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) also suspended training with smoke grenades, pending completion of the Committee Of Inquiry into an NSF's death earlier in the year.
21-year-old Private Dominique Sarron Lee Rui Feng had died in April following breathing difficulties while taking part in training that involved smoke grenades at Murai Urban Training Facility at Lim Chu Kang.
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