Almost ten years after the deadly mortar accident in Mali, there are still thousands of rejected mortar shells in Defense ammunition stores. Two soldiers from the Johan Willem Friso Barracks in Assen died in the 2016 accident. All mortars are destroyed, but according to Defense this takes a lot of time.
Soldiers Kevin Roggeveld (24) and Henry Hoving (29) died during a shooting exercise when a defective mortar exploded. Everything was wrong when the ammunition was purchased, according to an independent committee that investigated the mortar accident. Information was lacking on the temperature at which the grenades could be safely used and stored. Rust on the ammunition was ignored and the shock tube safety did not meet NATO standard. Nevertheless, Defense started using the unsafe grenades to solve an ammunition shortage.
The Netherlands purchased the ammunition from a factory in Bulgaria, 37,000 in total. There are still 9,633 mortar shells left from the same batch. According to a Defense spokesperson, they must all be destroyed one by one. Defense does not know how long that will take. “Ammunition destruction is a time-intensive process that must be done accurately. It is carried out automatically, which means that human actions are avoided.”
In the meantime, according to Defense, the mortars are stored in ammunition warehouses ‘in accordance with prescribed safety requirements’. Previously, some of the rejected mortar shells were stored in the depot in Veenhuizen. Defense does not say whether this is still the case.
According to the investigative committee, it has been established that Defense has been negligent fourteen times and that its managers have acted culpably three times. The grenades should have been better stored in Mali and the service responsible for the ammunition should have been sure that soldiers could use the mortars safely.
It is not yet known whether the results of the investigation have consequences for the soldiers involved. Minister Brekelmans (VVD) is now having this investigated.