Not Meant To Happen

An early morning attack by four gunmen who stormed and reached the emergency-response control room of a secured nuclear facility in South Africa has left one of the plant's operational officers hospitalized.

The attack at the Pelindaba nuclear facility took place early Thursday morning, reported the Pretoria News.

Anton Gerber, an emergency services operational officer working for the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa, was in the control room with his fiancée Ria Meiring, who is also the control room supervisor, when he heard a loud bang and saw the men coming into the facility's eastern block.

Gerber pushed Meiring beneath a desk for safety and attempted to stop the intruders from entering the electronically sealed control room. Two forced their way through the door and ran straight for the control panel.

Investigators at the Pelindaba plant believe the attackers gained access to the building by using a ladder belonging to the facility's fire department to scale a wall, then forced open a window by pulling out several louvers.

The facility is meant to be safe. There are security guards, electric fences and security control points. These things are not meant to happen," Gerber said.

There is a host of smells coming from this report, but where to start?

Electronically secured control room door, but two guys "forced" their way in. No no no. Those doors are heavy steel and reinforced three ways from Sunday, so the door had to have been open to begin with, no doubt a major violation of security procedures.

One must wonder if Gerber even belonged in the control room to begin with. He must have been "visiting" his Fiancee(the control room supervisor) and had left the door open. Talk about bad timing.

The invaders reportedly used a ladder belonging to the facility's fire department to scale a security wall and thus gained entry..

A police spokesman told Pretoria News there had been no arrests in the attack. Reports make no mention of terrorism as a possible motive.

"A case of armed robbery and attempted murder are being investigated," the spokesman said.

"Not meant to happen." But if you leave things like ladders laying around and doors open, the best laid plans are worthless.