New incident with the Puma: Twelve soldiers were injured in a collision between two infantry fighting vehicles in the Bundeswehr Combat Training Center (GÜZ) on Wednesday.
This is reported by the dpa news agency, citing a spokesman for the German armed forces.
The injuries to one of the soldiers are said to have been so severe that he had to be taken to a hospital in a rescue helicopter.
According to available information, the two vehicles had collided at a higher speed.
According to the magazine Der Spiegel, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) spoke of a terrible accident during a visit to troops in Augustdorf (North Rhine-Westphalia), which affected him greatly.
He wished the injured comrades a speedy recovery.
Pistorius in Augustdorf
In Augustdorf, Pistorius visited Tank Battalion 203 to find out about the possible uses of the Leopard 2A6 main battle tank, of which the German government intends to make 14 units available to the Ukraine.
In Augustdorf, the minister also wanted to exchange ideas with soldiers from the battalion, whose 550 members form the core of the multinational NATO battle group in Lithuania.
Pistorius had already informed himself about the Puma during his first visit.
After the total failure of all 18 armored personnel carriers of the type during a stay at the military training area in Bergen (Lower Saxony) last December, Pistorius's predecessor Christine Lambrecht (SPD) put the Pumas to the test.
Pistorius recently said: "We will solve the problems that still exist." The armored personnel carrier is also "of great importance" for the NATO rapid reaction force - for which the Bundeswehr now has older martens ready.