Russian Navy accidentally hits farm during live-firing exercises

MOSCOW/ST. PETERSBURG, May 29 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian Baltic Fleet anti-submarine vessel accidentally shot at a farm in the northwest of the country during live-firing exercises.

No one was hurt or killed in the incident.

A military source said that the Russian vessel was in the Gulf of Finland on Thursday evening when it mistakenly opened fire on a farm in the Vyborg region.

"A large farm was fired upon," Vasily Kozlov, the head of the Polyansk village administration told RIA Novosti. He said the farmers reported that a car window had been damaged, but that there was no other damage.

Tatyana Kostaryova, a spokesman for the Vyborg administration, said nine to 15 automatic cannon shots were fired

"This is, of course, a disgrace, people could have died. This is the height of the planting season and there are a lot of people at the farm," Kostaryova added.

"Was it frightening? That's not the word for it. It was a metal hail. People took cover in basements. One farmer, who was walking with his grandson, threw himself onto the child to shield him," Yury Mikhailov, the head of the farm, said.

He also said that most of the shrapnel, the largest of which was 11 centimeters in length, fell on rooftops and greenhouses.

The Leningrad Navy Base has also confirmed the report and said the vessel fired 30-mm AK-630 cannon shells.

Military authorities have opened an investigation into the incident.