Three Territorial Army bomb disposal soldiers were rushed to Ninewells Hospital after a device exploded in their faces while they attempted to defuse it.
They were on a training exercise at Barry Buddon when the device went off. An ambulance, two paramedic teams and the trauma team from Ninewells attended and the three were treated at the scene before being taken under police escort to the hospital.
The soldiers were from 75 Engineer Regiment, based in Birkenhead, Merseyside. The army has confirmed the incident, which happened on Saturday June 16 at 11am.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) say they are aware of the incident and are making enquiries.
It is believed the three soldiers were on a routine bomb defusing exercise when the explosion happened.
A Barry Buddon source said their colleagues immediately raised the alarm and made the three comfortable while waiting for the emergency services to arrive.
He said: ”It just suddenly went off. They use live ordnance to train with but usually it’s pretty straightforward and bombs don’t usually explode in people’s faces.
”It obviously couldn’t have been a hugely powerful device although it still caused a fair sized explosion.
”They would have been wearing all the protective gear, though, which would save them from really serious injuries.
”There were a lot of police and ambulance people about and it looked really serious, although I think they weren’t really that badly injured after all.”
An army spokesman said the three had received only ”minor injuries”.
”They were doing a training exercise at Barry Buddon when the incident happened. They received minor fragment wounds and were released from the hospital the same day.
”An investigation into the circumstances is still ongoing.”
The spokesman added that operations at Barry Buddon were unaffected and no training exercises had been cancelled or changes made to procedure in the interim.
The Scottish Ambulance Service said: ”We received a call to go to Barry Buddon shortly after 11am on June 16. One ambulance, two paramedic units and the trauma team from Ninewells Hospital were despatched and the casualties were brought back to Ninewells.”
Police said they had attended but had only provided an escort to the ambulance en route to Ninewells.