Explosion During Grenade Launcher Training Kills Four Canadian Soldiers

Officials confirmed Thursday what happened last weekend on a Canadian military airbase. A catastrophic explosion tore through the facility, killing four soldiers and leaving 39 others injured. The blast started during grenade launcher exercises.

The fire erupted around 4pm local time on Saturday at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta. It claimed the lives of Sergeant Morgan Wong, Private Shaun Farrell from Saskatchewan, Private Aidan Goulding, and Private Hayden Lykkemark. Nineteen victims remain in critical condition. Twenty-seven soldiers are still hospitalized while twelve have been released to leave the hospital.

Brigadier-General Vanessa Hanrahan stated that investigators now believe the fire resulted from a training exercise on the base's grenade launcher range. This area is marked as a 'permanent danger zone'. The situation created a deadly trap for firefighters trying to tame the flames. As the blaze spread toward service members training across the compound, their ability to escape was severely limited.

Major General Wade Rutland added that military officials were aware of the fire for hours but thought it was contained. That false sense of security is why they kept going with the training drills. Around 84 soldiers were reportedly practicing at two locations when a windstorm swept across large areas of Alberta. Gusts reached up to 62mph and pushed the flames into one of the military practice sites.

A subsequent change in wind direction and velocity made 'significantly increased the fire's intensity and rate of speed', according to Hanrahan. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also noted earlier this week that the fire was 'driven by ferocious winds'. The flames jumped nearly a kilometer in less than a minute right where soldiers were gathered. Early reports claimed seven people died, but that number was later corrected to four.

No evacuation order was issued for the nearby town of Wainwright, which has around 7,000 residents. Hanrahan explained there were no signs of natural gas infrastructure involved in the disaster. A team of 50 investigators is probing the fire under the leadership of the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service. The Prime Minister added that the troops were preparing to join a NATO mission in Latvia this spring.

Heartbroken residents mourned during a vigil held for the soldiers who tragically lost their lives earlier this week.