Korean navy plane drops REAL MISSILES into East Sea
The Korean navy’s P-3CK on patrol. / Courtesy of Twitter
By Lee Han-soo
A Korean navy’s P-3CK, a maritime patrol aircraft, accidentally dropped weapons into the East Sea on Sunday.
The accident happened around 6:10 a.m. during a patrol off the coast of Yangyang county, Gangwon Province, when a co-pilot accidentally pressed the emergency weapons release switch.
“One of the plane’s crew mistakenly touched the emergency weapons release switch instead of a buoy that detects submarine sound waves,” said a navy official. “The weapons were not armed and did not explode.”
The missing weapons include two harpoon missiles, two torpedoes and two depth charges and are worth about 4 billion won ($3.3 million).
The navy has sent a mine sweeper and salvage ship to salvage the weapons if possible.
“We apologize for the blunder on New Year’s day,” said a navy official. “The navy will make sure that the accident does not recur.”