2 U.S. soldiers dead, 12 injured after vehicle flips over in Alaska
Two members of the United States military are dead and a dozen more injured after a military vehicle accident near Salcha, Alaska.
Seventeen members of the 11th Airborne Division were riding a light medium tactical transport vehicle in the Yukon Training Area when the accident occurred, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson said in a news release. The base, located in Anchorage, Alaska, is the division's headquarters.
Alaska News Source reported that the vehicle was heading along a dirt road into the training area when the driver lost control of the vehicle, causing it to flip over.
The cause of the accident is "under investigation," the news release said.
First responders "reached the scene and extracted the personnel," the release said, and provided medical treatment until the soldiers could be "medically evacuated" to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital in Fairbanks. Some were transported by air, and some were transported by ground, the news release said.
No information about the injured soldiers' condition was shared in the news release. Alaska News Source reported that the two most critically injured soldiers were airlifted to the Providence Medical Center in Anchorage.
The two soldiers who were killed have not yet been identified. The military does not confirm the identities of deceased service members until 24 hours after next-of-kin notifications are completed.
"Any time that we lose our soldiers, it's a tragic event for the families, for the fellow soldiers, for the soldiers' friends," John Pennell, the division's chief of media relations, told Alaska News Source. "Essentially, the entire 11th Airborne Division family is grieving the loss of these two soldiers and preparing to step forward and do everything we can for the families that they've left behind."