International News

WASHINGTON, (APP/AFP) – A probe has been
launched into the death of nine soldiers caught in a flash-flood during a training exercise in Texas, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said Saturday.
Authorities recovered the bodies of four soldiers Friday, a day after
their vehicle flipped over in a rain-swollen creek at the vast military base of Fort Hood, Texas.
“We now know that nine soldiers died in the training incident at Fort
Hood, and based on initial reports, it was a troop carrier that overturned in a stream,” said Carter, speaking after a security summit in Singapore.
“The investigation’s under way — we will get to the bottom off this
incident and others that occurred this week,” Carter said.
Bodies of the other five victims were recovered Thursday.
The troops were on a training mission at the base when their light
truck was caught in flash flooding, Christopher Haug, chief of media relations at Fort Hood military base, told AFP.
Major General John Uberti told reporters on Friday that three
soldiers were rescued and are in stable condition “due to the quick action of some other soldiers that were training.”
Texas has seen several days of severe storms, including in the area around
Fort Hood, where the Light Medium Tactical Vehicle the soldiers were traveling
in overturned.
An aerial search, canine units and swift water rescue boats were all
deployed in response to the accident.
The Fort Hood Army base is located approximately 200 miles (320 kilometers)
northwest of Houston.
Nearly 41,000 soldiers are stationed at the sprawling 87,000-hectare
(215,000-acre) base.