A South African military weapon fired incorrectly, killing 9 soldiers and wounding 14 more... possibly because of software error.
a female artillery officer risked her life... in a desperate bid " to save members of her battery from the gun."
But the brave, as yet unnamed officer was unable to stop the wildly swinging computerised Swiss/German Oerlikon 35mm MK5 anti-aircraft twin-barrelled gun. It sprayed hundreds of high-explosive 0,5kg 35mm cannon shells around the five-gun firing position.
By the time the gun had emptied its twin 250-round auto-loader magazines, nine soldiers were dead and 11 injured.
We're close to real life imitating pulp fiction here, closing in on the sf cliche of robots run amuck. And who isn't tantalized by thoughts of "oh sure, it looks like 'error' - that's what the program wants us to think!"
(thanks to Jon Swerdloff)
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