Updated at 4:02 p.m. ET
An early morning training exercise gone wrong resulted in the deaths of three U.S. Army soldiers and injured three more at Fort Stewart, in Georgia, on Sunday, according to Fort Stewart officials.
The soldiers were riding a Bradley Fighting Vehicle when around 3:20 a.m., it flipped over and rolled into water, a news release from Fort Stewart said.
The three soldiers who were killed were pronounced dead on the scene. The three who were injured were taken to Winn Army Community Hospital. Two were released later in the day and another was transferred to Memorial Health University Medical Center in nearby Savannah with injuries that were not life-threatening.
All six soldiers involved in the incident were members of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, often referred to as Dogface.
“Today is a heartbreaking day for the 3rd Infantry Division, and the entire Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield community, as we are all devastated after a training accident this morning on the Fort Stewart Training Area,” said Maj. Gen. Tony Aguto, commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division. “We are extremely saddened by the loss of three Dogface Soldiers, and injuries to three more. Our hearts and prayers go out to all the families affected by this tragedy.”
The 3rd Infantry Division and the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center are investigating the incident. Fort Stewart officials have not released the soldiers’ names and say they will do so 24 hours after they’ve notified the soldiers’ families.
The 25-ton Bradley Fighting Vehicle is a type of protected transport vehicle that has been involved in deadly accidents before.
A soldier at Fort Hood in Texas died last month after he was injured while conducting maintenance on one of the armored vehicles. In January, a 22-year-old combat engineer was killed in a training accident at the National Training Center at Fort Hood when the Bradley Fighting Vehicle he was riding on rolled over. Three other soldiers were injured in that accident.
Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
9(MDAxODM0MDY4MDEyMTY4NDA3MzI3YjkzMw004))
