Denmark: Rocket launcher activated: Danish Great Belt Strait closed

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Military mishap
Rocket launcher accidentally activated: Danish Great Belt Strait closed

Car traffic on the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark continues

© olli0815 / Getty Images

The test of a weapons system on the Great Belt goes completely wrong. As a result, the waterway must be closed to traffic – but car traffic on the Great Belt Bridge is not affected.

In Denmark has temporarily closed a busy waterway between two islands west of Copenhagen after the accidental activation of a rocket launcher on a navy ship. “The problem occurred as part of a mandatory test in which the rocket launcher was activated” and could not be deactivated again for several hours, the Danish Defense Command said on Thursday. The ship was the frigate “Niels Juel”, which is moored in the port of Korsor.

The Great Belt Strait between the islands of Zealand and Funen and the airspace over the area were then closed to traffic from the afternoon until 8 p.m. Car traffic on the bridge between the islands was not interrupted.

The all-clear only comes in the evening

As long as the launcher is not deactivated, there is “the risk that the missile will be fired and fly several kilometers,” the military statement said. However, there was never any threat of the rocket exploding. In the evening the defense command gave the all-clear.

The incident occurred a day after the dismissal of General Staff Flemming Lentfer by Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen as a result of a loss of confidence. Poulsen said he had not been informed of problems on a Danish frigate sent to the Red Sea to protect merchant ships from Houthi militia.

lz
AFP

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