UM WHAT?

U.S. ‘Bombs’ Australia

In training exercise gone wrong.

This is not a headline you read everyday. Two American fighter jets accidentally dropped four unarmed bombs into Australia’s Great Barrier Reef last week, the U.S. Navy said on Saturday. It was apparently a training exercise gone wrong. The jets had meant to drop the bombs at a bombing range nearby, but were forced to abort the mission when controllers said the area could not be cleared of hazards. The pilots were forced to drop the bombs in the Great Barrier Reef because the planes were low on fuel and couldn’t land with the load. At least they tried to save the Barrier Reef: the bombs were dropped away from the coral to minimize the damage.