Piranha 3 Armored Personnel Carrier Sinks in Danube During NATO Exercise Saber Guardian-23 in Romania

During the NATO exercise Saber Guardian-23 in Romania, the Piranha 3 armored personnel carrier (“Piranha 3”) sank in the Danube while crossing the Borca branch. The five soldiers of the Romanian army who were in it were rescued.

Whether this was caused by improper handling of equipment or a malfunction of the car, a special commission will find out. According to local media (stirileprotv.ro), the Piranha-3 armored car entered the Danube, the descent was sudden and not entirely smooth. The incident was filmed by a participant in the exercises on a mobile phone. The footage shows that from the first seconds the military loses control over the vehicle, it tilts heavily, and then goes under water and sinks.

Crew members said they noticed water seeping inside the armored vehicle. They informed the command, however, just 15 meters from the coast, where the Danube has a depth of about 8 meters, the Piranha sank.

“We have to admit that things can take a strange turn. There was an incident that we are investigating and every day trying to learn so that when we need to act for real, nothing like this happens. We followed the current operating procedures, which, most likely, after our investigations will be adapted to ensure that such incidents do not happen again, ” – said the commander of the South-Eastern Multinational Brigade Konstantin Nikolaescu.

The large-scale NATO exercises Saber Guardian-23 involve 10 thousand military personnel and 1.7 thousand units of military equipment from 13 countries of the alliance and partners, including the Republic of Moldova.

Piranha 3 is an amphibious combat vehicle that entered service with the Romanian army in 2007. At that time, 31 armored personnel carriers were bought for 47 million euros, and in 2017 another 13 modified vehicles for 43 million euros.

As reported EADaily , this year the National Army of Moldova will receive 19 Piranha-3H armored personnel carriers from Germany as part of assistance in the modernization and re-equipment of the armed forces. Chisinau plans to use this technique to train the military involved in international peacekeeping missions.
Minister of Defense of Moldova Anatoly Nosy previously noted that the equipment donated by Berlin belongs to the third generation, but it is not new, it has been overhauled and has a warranty period.