A rocket fell on the morning of Thursday 17 November in the municipality of Lungești, in the south of the county of Vâlcea. Several intervention teams went to the scene and technicians were also expected.
Images of the rocket that fell in the south of Vâlcea County Source images Tiberiu Costea jpeg
A piece of rocket, the origin of which is still unknown, fell in an area of houses, on a plot of land, hurtling among the people who were nearby. Fortunately no one was injured.
It is suspected that it is an anti-hail missile, given that there are launch points for them in the areas adjacent to the area where it fell.
At the time we received the information, the relevant authorities were waiting in the municipality to confirm or deny the suspicions.
Images of the rocket that fell in the south of Vâlcea County Source images Tiberiu Costea jpeg
“Of course, it’s not Russian, or I don’t want to think it is…”.
The mayor of Lungești Vâlcea, Tiberiu Costea, who was also on the ground in the area where the rocket fell, told “Adevărul”: “I think it’s an anti-hail missile, from the looks of it, from what we’ve seen in the pictures, but until the specialists arrive, we can’t say for sure. They came from the ISU (Inspectorate for Emergency Situations) Vâlcea, from Police, the engineers or the Antigrinda engineer, collecting… what we suspect is the rear of the rocket. Of course, it’s not Russian, or I don’t want to think it is…”.
Images of the rocket that fell in the south of Vâlcea County Source images Tiberiu Costea jpeg
The rocket landed near people who were in the area
The quoted source also confirmed to us that, although there were no casualties, the missile passed very close to at least one person: “It fell in front of houses, on land outside the village, not in someone’s backyard. It’s not such a problem… There were people in the area, but not close enough to be hit… That they were within a few feet of distance… In the end, the fact that they are not victims, that’s fine. This is the most important aspect: that they are not victims and that she is not dangerous. If she turns out to be anti-hail, it is clear that she does not pose a danger. But now let’s see what it is, when all the augmented ones come”.
“He must have come from the neighboring towns…”
Vâlcea County has four anti-hail missile launch points: in Mădulari, Ștefănești, Orlesti and Șușani, with the command center at the Drăgășani Meteorological Station.
„Anti-hail rockets are launched by specialized centres, not by us. We do not have such a center in Lungești, but there are some nearby: in the municipality of Ștefănești – two centers, in the municipality of Șușani and in the town of Dragășani. It must have come from there, because somewhere else…”, also quoted Mayor Tiberiu Costea, a former county prefect also during the time the system was implemented in Vâlcea.
Images of the rocket that fell in the south of Vâlcea County Source images Tiberiu Costea jpeg
Vâlcea, in the areas protected by the National Anti-Hail System
The county of Vâlcea is among the areas protected by the infrastructure of the National Anti-Hail and Increased Precipitation System, since 2018, and in the localities mentioned by the mayor there are launch points of units to combat hail.
These are intended to protect two-thirds of the county’s agricultural area from extreme natural phenomena. Designed to fly up to 10,000 meters, one of the missiles is suspected to have most likely malfunctioned.
In 2018, a hail missile launched from Vâlcea landed on a family in Olt County.
The news of a rocket that fell in Vâlcea created a lot of noise in the context of the war in Ukraine and the news of the rocket that killed people in Poland.
