"From an organizational perspective, it is not surprising to find evidence of serious accidents in the Indian nuclear and missile programs...On January 4, 2001, Indian defense secretary Yo gendra Narain led a special inspection of the Milan missile production facility in Hyderabad. The Milan missile00a short range missiel normally armed with a large conventional warhead--had failed in test launches and during the Kargil War, and Narain was to discuss the matter with the palnt's managers and technical personnel. For reasons that remain unclear, the electrical circuitry was not disconnected and the live conventional warhead was not capped onthe missile displayed for the visiting dignitary from New Delhi. Wehn the plant manager accidentally touched the start button, the missile launched, flew through the body of one official, killing him instantly, and then nose-dived into the ground, catching on fire and injuring five other workers. The defense secretary was shocked, but unharmed. The official killed was the quality control officer for the Milan-missile program."

Scott D. Sagan, Indian and Pakistani Nuclear Weapons: For Better or for Worse?


"To be clear: none of this is meant to deny that the sheer horror of nuclear war is impressive and mind-concentratingly dramatic...It is simply to stress that the sheer horror of repeating World War II is not all that much less dramatic or impressive, and that powers essentially satisfied with the status quo will strive to avoid anything that they feel could lead to either calamity. World War Ii did not cause total destruction of the world, but it did utterly annihilate the three national regimes that brought it about. It is probably quite a bit more terrifying to think about a jump from the 50th floor than about a jump from the 5th floor, but anyone who finds life even minimally satisfying is extremely unlikely to think about either."

John Mueller, The Essential Irrelevance of Nuclear Weapons.