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Darwin Awards
2006 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Australian Army Mention?

2006 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

As you may or may not know, about a month ago Australia experienced its first death in the Iraq conflict. This was one Private Kovco, who was initially said to have been accidentally shot while cleaning his rifle.

Then the story changed, and it was said that he was accidentally shot while cleaning his pistol. Now they say he wasn't cleaning his pistol, something happened and it went off in his room in the barracks. There were two other soldiers present. All this is by way of background.

Anyway, today the news comes out that the commander of that regiment was refused permission to go to Baghdad. The title of the story is "Kovco's commander not allowed to see for himself", author Frank Walker. The story ends with the following gem:

"The mystery of what caused the gun to fire has deepened. It was reported that it went off when Private Kovco was standing next to his bunk when his laptop computer slipped onto the gun, setting it off. Defence Minister Brendan Nelson initially said Private Kovco was killed while cleaning his weapon, but later said something knocked the pistol and it discharged.

"Some soldiers are reporting back from Baghdad to family and friends saying that the three troops were skylarking and playing a risky game when Private Kovco was shot by accident.

"One source said members of the regiment at Holsworthy Barracks last week conducted an experiment to see if a Browning pistol could go off accidentally.

"'They tried 100 different ways including banging it, dropping it and throwing it, but the gun would not fire unless the trigger was pulled,' the source said.

"Colonel Mumford said he had not heard of the experiment and did not approve."

These anonymous soldiers at Holsworthy Barracks (near Sydney), by experimenting with loaded pistols, are obviously attempting to win their own Darwin Awards - at the very least, I feel they deserve an honourable mention.

Submitted on 05/06/2006

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: Sydney Morning Herald 7 May 06

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

>> Moderator Scores <<

James said:
Definitely Toss: Other
None of this sounds like a DA to me. Given all of the various yet inconclusive possibilities presented here, there is STILL no definitive answer as to what happened. My guess is that the whole thing was just an accident, whether caused by a falling laptop or by an experiment gone wrong. again, however, if any definitive evidence surfaces which can make or break this story once and for all, do let us know!


Sheryl said:
Definitely Toss: Other
Thanks for the story. This one keeps changing every time I read a version of it. Even so, nothing submitted so far has given a concrete idea of the facts.


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