Pocheon (South Korea) - A serious incident occurred on Thursday on the fringes of a joint military exercise between South Korea and the USA. 15 residents of a village were injured, some of them seriously.

At 10.05 a.m. (local time), all hell broke loose in the tranquil village, reports the JoongAng newspaper.

South Korean Air Force KF-16 fighter jets accidentally dropped bombs on a village in the municipality of Pocheon, around 40 kilometers north of the capital Seoul. Two houses lie in ruins, the pretty church was badly damaged. Windows were shattered and debris lay in the street.

Images from a surveillance camera captured the detonation: A car drives across the central square in front of the church, then the bomb hits. A fireball forms immediately and smoke rises.

"Suddenly I heard a huge explosion, like a thunderclap, and the whole house shook. When I went outside, everything was in chaos," resident Mr. Park (73) told the Yonhap news agency.

"Relations with North Korea are not so good at the moment, at first I feared that war had broken out," thought Pastor Kim Jong-moon when he saw the huge column of smoke rising.

The authorities are now saying that 15 people have been injured, including at least four seriously. For the time being, 50 people are unable to return to their homes and have been placed in emergency accommodation.

While the East Asian country's air force initially spoke of an "unfortunate oversight", there are now initial findings on the serious mishap.

According to the report, a total of eight unguided bombs were dropped by two aircraft. Apparently, the pilot of the lead aircraft had entered incorrect coordinates into the target computer and then transmitted them to his wingman. The incident is still under investigation.

The Mk-82 bomb dropped weighed around 230 kilograms and contained around 90 kilograms of explosives. The KF-16 fighter aircraft used is a licensed version of the tried-and-tested US F-16, of which the East Asian country's air force operates more than 150.