Eleven Marines were injured by an explosion in a trash receptacle aboard the USS Saipan in the Persian Gulf, the Navy said Thursday. The explosion occurred late Wednesday in a sleeping area, piercing a bulkhead and injuring people in the adjacent compartment. The cause was being investigated.
One Marine was taken to an Army field hospital in Kuwait with a serious arm wound and was in stable condition, the Navy said. The rest were being treated aboard the ship, and the injuries were not life-threatening, according to the Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. The Marines are part of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and were deployed to the Gulf in support of the ongoing war on terrorism and the American-led war in Iraq. The Saipan, an amphibious assault ship, deployed from Norfolk Naval Station on Jan. 6. |