12 Singaporean military personnel injured when 2 armored vehicles collide in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Twelve military personnel have been injured when two Singaporean armored vehicles collided during a training exercise in Australia, officials said Wednesday.

The personnel “sustained non-serious injuries” when one Hunter Armored Fighting Vehicle “rear-ended another” Tuesday at Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area in Queensland state, a Singapore Defense Ministry statement said.

The injured were flown by helicopter to a hospital for treatment, and Rockhampton Hospital said in a statement that all has been discharged by Wednesday.

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

The annual exercise involving army and air force has been conducted in a training area that covers an expanse of remote Australian coastline four times larger than Singapore, since 1990.

The exercise began on Sept. 8 and will continue eight weeks until Nov. 3.

The Singapore Defense Ministry said the armored vehicles had been returning to base at Shoalwater Bay when they collided.

“The army has called for a safety pause to remind drivers to maintain proper distance” between vehicles, the statement said.