U.S. Army officials have identified two soldiers killed when their large transport vehicle crashed while heading to a training area in interior Alaska.
There were among 17 soldiers on board the vehicle that flipped when the driver lost control on a dirt road leading to the Yukon Training Area near the community of Salcha, or about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Fairbanks, officials said earlier. Twelve other soldiers were injured.
The two soldiers killed were Spcs. Jeremy Daniel Evans and Brian Joshua Snowden, the Army said in a statement late Wednesday.
Both were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Combat Team with the 11th Airborne Division.
Evans, 23, arrived in Alaska in January 2021 after completing training at Fort Moore in Georgia. The Knoxville, Tennessee, native joined the Army in July 2020.
Snowden, 22, also joined the Army in July 2020 and trained at Fort Moore. Snowden, a Lonedell, Missouri, native arrived for duty in Alaska in March 2021.
“This is an incredible loss for all of us across the division,” Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commanding general of the 11th Airborne Division, said in the statement.
“While we’re always challenged by the environment, we’re Arctic Angels, we overcome these challenges and accomplish our mission by being a team, and teams take care of one another, especially in times like these,” Eifler said.
Among the 12 other soldiers injured, eight were treated and released the same day from Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, the Army said. Two injured soldiers remain in stable condition in Fairbanks.
Two other soldiers who were taken to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage were also in stable condition, officials said.
The accident remains under investigation.