Two soldiers killed, five injured during training at CME, Pune

PUNE: Two Indian Army soldiers were killed and at least five others injured during a freak bridging exercise at the prestigious College of Military Engineering (CME) Pune on Thursday afternoon, official sources said.

During a training session for construction of a bridge, the tower support collapsed, crushing and trapping six-seven soldiers in the incident, said an official statement.

They were rushed to the Military Hospital, Kirkee, where Lance Havilkar Sanjivan P.K. and Naik B.K. Waghmode succumbed during treatment.

A Court of Inquiry has been ordered into the tragedy and the victims'' families have been informed, said the statement.

The mobile bridges are built and used by soldiers to scale difficult terrains in the fields, and the accident occurred when one of the units was training on it.

The CME is the country's premier training institution for imparting training in engineering to the Corps of Engineers for the Indian Army, other services and defence organisations besides personnel from other friendly nations.