Corporal Mor Cohen
צילום רפרודוקציה: חגי אהרון
Soldier killed in training accident
Corporal Mor Cohen suffers fatal head injury during routine urban warfare exercise held by Golani Brigade's 12th Battalion. GOC Northern Command orders inquest
Cleared for publication: Golani Corporal Mor Cohen (18), a soldier with the brigade's 12th Battalion, was killed Monday during a routine training exercise in the Golan Heights.
Initial details indicate that Cohen suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head after a bullet fired by one of his comrades penetrated the wall of a training facility and hit him.
Cohen was taking part in an urban warfare drill. The exercise began with a dry-run – during which no live ammunition was used – followed by a live-fire drill.
Shortly after the soldiers taking part in the drill began firing at their designated targets, the company commander noticed Cohen was missing.
The officer ordered the soldiers to cease fire and shortly thereafter found Cohen, who was standing outside a training facility building, mortally injured. A military physician was called to the scene and Cohen was rushed to the Ziv Medical Center in Safed.
The wounded soldier's condition took a turn for the worse en route to the hospital. Once at Ziv's emergency room, doctors had no choice but to pronounce him dead on arrival.
A senior military source described the tragic incident as rare, as the bullet penetrated the wall of a concrete structure built for the purpose of urban warfare exercises, which include the use of live munitions.
Such walls are also coated with a ricochet-absorbing material, meant to prevent any shrapnel or concrete ricochets' injuries.
Freak accident?
Sources privy to the process of training accidents' investigation told Ynet that in some past cases, the special rubber coating was found to hide the existence of cracks or holes in the walls.One of the possibilities explored is that the bullet somehow penetrated the wall through an unseen crack, causing the deadly injury. Another option explored is concrete erosion, which may have weakened the wall to the point that the bullet was able to breach it.
The structure in question was last inspected in July and was found to be in good operational condition.
The military inquest will also try to ascertain Cohen's position outside the structure: If his position was indeed flush to the wall, he was following proper protocol.
The incident, said a military source, is expected to affect all urban warfare training grounds.
All live-fire drills in Golani have been suspended in wake of the tragedy, pending the result of the inquest ordered by GOC Northern Command Major-General Gadi Eisenkot.
Military Police have launched a separate investigation into the tragic incident.
Hagai Einav contributed to this report
