Bodies found of four missing Fort Hood soldiers
UPDATE: Fort Hood officials have released the names of eight of the nine soldiers that died Thursday.
Staff Sgt. Miguel Angel Colonvazquez, Spc. Christine Faith Armstrong, Pfc. Brandon Austin Banner, Pfc. Zachery Nathaniel Fuller, Pvt. Isaac Lee Deleon, Pvt. Eddy Raelaurin Gates, Pvt. Tysheena Lynette James, and Cadet Mitchell Alexander Winey are the fatalities from the accident.
Last soldier's next of kin is still waiting for notification
May they rest in peace.
The four missing Fort Hood soldiers swept away after their military vehicle overturned in a low water crossing have been found dead. Five soldiers in that vehicle had already been found deceased yesterday.
Three others taken to an area hospital have been released.
Local and state agencies searched a five mile area near Owl Creek for the last two days to try and find the missing soldiers. Fort Hood officials say the soldiers were on a training mission when their vehicle overturned in a low water crossing.
"I'm sad to report that we recovered our four missing soldiers tragically all four of those soldiers are deceased and we've lost in this incident nine of our great soldiers," says Major General John Uberti.
The bodies found Friday were just downstream from where the army vehicle overturned in an area with heavy brush, steep inclines and swift moving water. Local and state agencies searched on the ground, by boat and by air until all those missing were recovered
"You know part of our warrior ethos is that I will never leave a fallen comrade and were it not for the professionalism and compassion of these emergency services personnel it would have taken us much longer to live up to our ethos," says Major General Uberti.
Thursday morning officials were working to close several roads on post, but they did not get to the road near Owl Creek before this accident. At the time, the soldiers were training on how to drive the very vehicle that overturned.
"This is an example of soldiers training to do what they need to do to protect our country and its dangerous work and it's a tragedy that we lost some," says Chris Haug, the media relations chief of Fort Hood.
Fort Hood officials say a US Army combat readiness center out of Alabama will be conducting a safety investigation on this accident. They will make recommendations to help prevent something like this from happening again.
The identities of the deceased will be released 24 hours after their families have been notified.