Two US soldiers are dead in Alaska after vehicle flips in training area

Two US Army soldiers died and 12 others were injured Monday after a military vehicle flipped en route to a training exercise in Alaska, the US Army Alaska said.

The truck, a light medium tactical vehicle used for troop transport, was travelling to a training near Salcha, Alaska, about 30 miles southeast of Fairbanks, where the soldiers were based. Seventeen soldiers of the 11th Airborne Division were in the vehicle, which was traveling with a convoy of others, a US Army Alaska spokesperson, John Pennell, said Monday night.

At about 11 am local time, the driver of the tactical vehicle lost control, and it overturned on a dirt road in the Yukon Training Area, just outside Salcha near Richardson Highway, Pennell said.

First responders extracted the soldiers and provided on-scene medical treatment until they could be medically evacuated by ground and air, the Army said in a statement.

The injured were taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. Two who were seriously hurt were then transported to Providence Alaska Medical Center, Pennell said. The injured soldiers were not released from the hospital as of Monday evening.

The names of the two soldiers who died will be released 24 hours after relatives are notified, he said.

An investigation will examine what caused the accident, he said.

“The entire 11th Airborne Division is in mourning now for these two soldiers, these two young men that we’ve lost,” he said. “We’re dedicated to ensuring that their families are taken care of and working with those who were injured to get them back on their feet.”