The scenario was as follows: at around 9:00 a.m., in a workshop building scheduled for demolition on the premises of the Bolesławiec ZOZ, an employee of a renovation company caused the detonation of a World War II explosive while tearing up the floor. Seven people were injured.
The Head of the Administration Department notified, among others, the hospital authorities and the defence specialist about the incident. The latter notified Demining Patrol No. 23.
Those who arrived at the scene included the on-duty doctor from the Hospital Emergency Department, an ambulance crew and nurses. The injured were moved to the emergency department.
At around 9:15 a.m., a sapper patrol arrived at the scene. Its commander ordered the ZOZ director to evacuate people within a 60-metre radius of the armed explosive. An evacuation was ordered, and the sappers secured the unexploded ordnance.
The exercise was intended to improve procedures for transporting and triaging the injured and evacuating patients from hospital departments and administrative employees. It involved, among others, sappers from Bolesławiec Demining Patrol No. 23 and students from the military class at the Major Henryk Sucharski General and Vocational Schools Complex in Bolesławiec (students under the supervision of Major Jacek Nesler).
As Senior Warrant Officer Radosław Mazur, head of Demining Patrol No. 23, told us, the scenario of the exercise was highly realistic. “We have already encountered such situations,” the commander stressed. “During renovations, people have found unexploded ordnance, aerial bombs and buried ammunition in the floors and staircases of old buildings and in attics.”
“The most important thing,” Senior Warrant Officer R. Mazur continued, “is not to touch such an object, but to notify the police, the forest service or a forester. Recently, there have been two accidents involving unexploded ordnance. We want to make everyone aware that these objects are still dangerous. Even if they are rusty and muddy, their contents may be in the same condition as if they had just left the factory.”
defence specialist Zbigniew Horoniecki/ii