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Flight Sergeant Andrew Bruce Forster - Source: ONE News -
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An investigation is continuing following the death of a senior Airforce Sergeant killed during an explosives operation at the Waiouru army base.
Flight Sergeant Andrew Foster had served with the air force for 27-years and had recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
He was carrying out a routine process to mark an unexploded bomb on Thursday when a rusted shell exploded, triggering a 50 metre blast.
Another flight sergeant survived with only minor injuries.
Air Vice Marshal Graham Lintott says experts have advised him the explosion was "a freak accident".
"We've lost a very well-liked and respected flight sergeant and as a Defence Force family we all share this grief."
The unexploded shell had been discovered Wednesday afternoon but the personnel who found it did not have appropriate equipment to mark it, so returned Thursday morning.
"It was during the process of putting the stake in the ground near the shell that it seems to have exploded and killed Flight Sergeant Forster," says Lintott.
Lintott says any army person coming across an unexploded bomb is trained how to safely mark the area.
The army has begun an investigation into the explosion, and the Defence Force is working with the police and has notified the coroner's office.
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