{"id":9342,"date":"2026-04-21T11:22:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T11:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/9342\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T11:22:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T11:22:31","slug":"3-japan-self-defense-force-members-dead-in-tank-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/9342\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Japan Self-Defense Force members dead in tank accident"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"ArticleTag_articleTag__P1Zo7\" href=\"https:\/\/asia.nikkei.com\/politics\/defense\" data-trackable=\"primary-tag\" data-dark-mode=\"false\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Defense<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"NewsArticleHeader_newsArticleHeaderSubtitle__ZlvPp\" data-trackable=\"subhead\" data-dark-mode=\"false\">Tank shell explodes unintentionally during training in Oita prefecture<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-main img-fluid ImageNew_imageNewImageResponsive__f1VTu\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/https:\/\/cms-image-bucket-productionv3-ap-northeast-1-a7d2.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com\/images\/1\/4.jpeg\" alt=\"20260421 Japan SDF tank file photo\" width=\"780\" height=\"auto\" loading=\"eager\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"NewsArticleCaption_newsArticleCaption__fxo8v\" data-trackable=\"caption\" data-dark-mode=\"false\" style=\"display:block\">A type 10 tank for Japan&#8217;s Ground Self-Defense Force\u00a0is on display at\u00a0a defense equipment\u00a0exhibition in\u00a0November 2019.\u00a0Two of the three killed were in their 30s\u00a0and one in their 40s. \u00a9 Kyodo<\/p>\n<p data-dark-mode=\"false\" class=\"Paragraph_paragraph__2p1wC\">OITA, Japan (Kyodo) &#8212; The unintentional explosion of a tank shell at the Ground Self-Defense Force&#8217;s training range in southwestern Japan left three of its members dead and another member injured on Tuesday, the GSDF said.<\/p>\n<p data-dark-mode=\"false\" class=\"Paragraph_paragraph__2p1wC\">The accident occurred at around 8:40 a.m. during a tank exercise at the GSDF&#8217;s Hijudai training range in Oita prefecture. A tank shell exploded before it was fired.<\/p>\n<p data-dark-mode=\"false\" class=\"Paragraph_paragraph__2p1wC\">While not disclosing their gender, the GSDF said two of the three killed were in their 30s and one in their 40s.<\/p>\n<p data-dark-mode=\"false\" class=\"Paragraph_paragraph__2p1wC\">&#8220;We are trying to confirm the details and cause of the incident,&#8221; Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters at the parliament building in Tokyo. &#8220;It&#8217;s extremely regrettable. &#8230; We will ensure thorough safety measures will be in place.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-dark-mode=\"false\" class=\"Paragraph_paragraph__2p1wC\">According to local fire authorities, the injured person suffered facial burns but is conscious.<\/p>\n<p data-dark-mode=\"false\" class=\"Paragraph_paragraph__2p1wC\">The four personnel involved in the accident served as the tank commander, gunner, safety officer and driver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defense Tank shell explodes unintentionally during training in Oita prefecture A type 10 tank for Japan&#8217;s Ground Self-Defense&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7956,2960,7960,7958,8,7959,7957,7961],"class_list":["post-9342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-7956","tag-accident","tag-dead","tag-force","tag-japan","tag-members","tag-self-defense","tag-tank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}