A Norwegian couple survived unscathed when a 40-tonne tank taking part in an international military exercise in central Norway ran over and crushed their car, military sources said on Thursday.
“The accident is being investigated by military police. It is too early to say how this could have happened,” military spokesperson Pia Width said.
A Leopard tank taking part in the exercise involving 15 nations and approximately 14 000 troops ran over a Mercedes parked on the side of a road in Grong at about 6pm local time on Wednesday. Neither of the two people inside was injured.
“We stopped the car after pulling way out into the snowdrift [on the side of the road], but the tank just kept coming at us without stopping … Right after that, the tank drove up on the left side of the hood and continued over the windshield and the roof,” driver Knut Okkenhaug (57) told Norwegian daily Aftenposten.
“I leaned over as far as I could towards my wife, but I could feel the car ceiling pressing down on my left shoulder. Right after that my left cheek bone was pressed against the ceiling … Looking back on it, it is incredible that I survived,” he added.
Width, meanwhile, insisted that the military is doing everything it can to avoid accidents during the ongoing “Battle Griffin” exercise, being held between February 21 and March 11.
“We have tried to make our soldiers conscious of the dangers that exist when they are driving on civilian roads … One accident is one accident too many. We can thank our lucky stars this time that no one was injured,” she said. — AFP