US nuclear missile damaged in silo

A nuclear-armed missile was damaged in its silo by three airmen in 2014, the US Air Force reports.

It says the incident happened on 17 May that year, but caused no injuries and did not pose any risk to public safety.

The Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile was removed from the silo which was operated by the 90th Missile Wing in remote area of north-eastern Colorado.

The air force didn’t go into details.

In a brief summary, it says the missile “became non-operational” during a diagnostic test on 16 May 2014, according to the Associated Press news agency.

The team chief and two of his airmen – who were not named – were removed from duty after the incident, the summary adds.

All three later returned to work after being retrained.