4 April 2024Updated 7 hours agoImage supply, Getty ImagesImage caption, The Niels Juel frigate (document picture)The Danish army was once compelled to quickly shut a significant transport lane and close by airspace after a missile launcher onboard a boat malfunctioned.The Nationwide Maritime Authority issued a caution for vessels to keep away from a part of the Nice Belt strait off the coast of Denmark on Thursday afternoon because of a possibility of “falling missile fragments”.A naval workout started within the space closing month and is because of finish on Friday.The transport lane was once reopened on Thursday night time after about six hours.”Till the missile launcher is deactivated, there’s a possibility that the missile can fireplace and fly a couple of kilometres away,” the army added. The missile was once introduced from the Niels Juel frigate, which has been a part of Nato’s status naval drive since 2023. The caution lined a space south-west of town of Korsor, some 4km (2.5 miles) south of the Nice Belt bridge, which crosses the strait.The bridge remained open to visitors, its operator mentioned.The defence ministry mentioned the missile contained 150kg of explosives, including that it was once no longer armed and would no longer detonate if it crashed into the ocean. In a later observation, the ministry mentioned consultants had “performed quite a few other exams and then it was once established that the booster was once no longer armed and that there’s no longer a possibility that the missile may also be introduced”.The incident within the Nice Belt strait comes on the finish of a hard week for the Danish military. On Wednesday, the executive of defence, Gen Flemming Lentfer, was once sacked for failing to file a malfunctioning guns techniques on a Danish frigate, the Iver Huitfeldt, within the Pink Sea. Denmark’s defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, mentioned he had misplaced his accept as true with in Mr Lentfer, who didn’t tell the defence ministry that the frigate’s radar and missile techniques failed because it got here beneath assault from a drone managed via Houthi militants. The Iver Huitfeldt was once serving to to safeguard business sea visitors from Houthi assaults as they introduced a marketing campaign of improve for Palestinians following Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Neither the workforce nor the send had been harmed throughout the deployment.
