INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

5 Fort Hood Soldiers Killed, 4 Missing After Texas Flooding Washed Away Army Truck At Nearby Creek

By Janice Malcolm
Published on: 00:33 PST, Jun 3, 2016

On Thursday, the rapid moving floodwaters in Texas swept away an army truck at a low-water crossing and resulted in five soldiers from Fort Hood being killed while four remain missing. A spokesman for the Texas Army post said that the bodies of five soldiers killed were recovered downstream in the rain-swollen creek soon after the incident. The other two were found later in the night.

Emergency officials reported that three other soldiers were brought to safety immediately after the truck overturned, which happened at about 11:30 a.m. yesterday in an area near Cold Springs and Owl Creek. Rescue operations continue for the four remaining men who are still missing after the Light Medium Tactical Vehicle overturned. Fort Hood released a statement advising that the four soldiers who remain missing are from the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, and 1st Cavalry Division. They also mentioned an attempt to recover property lost.

“Deceased soldiers were recovered from the water downstream from the vehicle. Multiple resources from the Fort Hood Directorate of Emergency Services, local and state agencies have been deployed to assist with the rescue and recovery of personnel and property.”

The three successfully rescued soldiers were found near the truck and have been reported as being in stable condition after being taken to Coryell Memorial Healthcare System in Gatesville. The names of the six soldiers who were killed have not been released pending notifications of their families by the Army. Even after the families are notified, it will still be a 24 hour period before the general public would learn the deceased soldiers’ identities.

According to AJC.com, at the time that the accident occurred, the soldiers had been taking part in several routine training activities in the northeast corner of the military installation. The entire area where the truck was washed away has been described before as a heavily wooded, hilly area on a rugged terrain. The 20-mile Owl Creek is said to wind through much of the heavily wooded terrain on the northern fringe of the Army base which aerial, and ground crews were tasked with searching, a total of 340 square miles. The Army also indicated that there would be an investigation into how the truck lost balance, killing six and leaving four soldiers missing, as the dirt road they were on is not known to be a problem.

Despite the fact that more thunderstorms were expected to move through the area Friday, the search continued for the four missing soldiers into the night. That is when the number of bodies recovered rose from three to five — two men were recovered late Thursday. The National Weather Service had issued flash flood warnings for all of northern and central Texas from Thursday afternoon, stating that rainstorms are expected to continue through to Friday afternoon. The month of May has brought a record-breaking amount of rain to the state of Texas and has already resulted in the deaths of at least six other people.

Rescue efforts consisted of teams searching for the missing soldiers by aircraft, boats, trucks, and on foot, according to a statement released by the Army. KXAN says that two days of intermittent but heavy rains contributed to the flooding of the creek’s low-water crossing. According to Fort Hood spokesman John Miller, the main road close to the dirt road the soldiers had been using when their truck washed away was also closed as a precautionary measure.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn tweeted of the incident being “sad news,” and Gov. Greg Abbott said, “Texas stands ready to provide any assistance to Fort Hood as they deal with this tragedy.”

[Photo by Eric Gay/AP Images]

Share this article: 5 Fort Hood Soldiers Killed, 4 Missing After Texas Flooding Washed Away Army Truck At Nearby Creek
More from Inquisitr