Last week, two South Korean fighter jets accidentally dropped bombs in the city of Pocheon, hurting and injuring civilians.

During normal training exercises and drills, the fighter jets accidentally dropped eight MK-82 bombs on a neighborhood. While this has happened before in the nation’s long history, there have never been any injuries or threats to civilians. 

This training is meant to help prepare the South Korean military against potential attacks from North Korea. Additionally, the city of Pocheon is located about 20 miles away from the military border between South and North Korea.

The South Korean air force is actively investigating the incident and why it happened in the first place. 

It was also reported that they would reimburse people who were affected by the bombs. A military official told reporters that the wrong coordinate was put for the bombs to be dropped, though another official also mentioned that they are unsure why the second fighter jet also dropped its bombs.

Korea’s Air Force told the BBC in a statement that “our KF-16 (fighter jet) abnormally dropped eight shells of MK-82 bombs. It landed outside of the firing range.”

Due to these bombs there were some effects within the city. Specifically, residential areas and a church were damaged. 

Apart from this, civilians were mainly injured causing unrest within the city.

News sources have reported that the number of people injured has gone up from fifteen to about twenty nine people. Many residents were scared looking at the damages and hearing the sounds of the bombs. 

A director of a senior center told the BBC that one of their employees was injured. Additionally, he says their residents “were so frightened that we sent them all home”

North Korean officials have also stated that this accident has contributed to increasing tensions as well. As a result of the incident,  the South Korean and US military decided to halt live drills. 

Two of the air force pilots who were manning the fighter jets have now been charged with negligence as much devastation was caused.

The South Korean air force is actively investigating this incident and why it happened in the first place.