A 28-year-old Army sergeant stationed in Ansbach, Germany, died Sunday morning in a single-vehicle accident in which three other soldiers were injured.
The men, all members of the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade headquartered in Ansbach, Germany, were returning to the post from Kaiserslautern on the A6 when the Dodge sport utility vehicle in which they were riding hit a highway divider, swerved across the road, rolled down an embankment and landed on its side in a ditch, where it caught fire.
The accident occurred about 7:45 a.m. on a stretch of autobahn leading into a construction zone with a reduced speed limit.
Passersby who stopped to help were able to free three of the soldiers from the wreck. The sergeant, who was seated in the front passenger seat, was trapped and died at the scene, said Klaus Hinderer a police spokesman for the city of Aalen, about 45 miles southwest of Ansbach.
The sergeant was accompanied by two specialists and a private first class, all in their 20s, a spokesman for the 12th CAB said Tuesday. One of the specialists was badly injured and airlifted to a German hospital in Stuttgart, where he remains hospitalized.
A memorial ceremony for the deceased soldier is scheduled for 1 p.m., May 20, at the Katterbach Chapel.
The cause of the crash is under investigation, Hinderer said. Alcohol and drugs have been ruled out as contributing factors, he said.
German authorities are searching for those who helped free the soldiers from the burning wreck so they can be recognized for their actions.
“They risked their own lives to save the lives of others,” Hinderer said.
millham.matthew@stripes.com
Twitter: @mattmillham
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