An Army soldier died Thursday in Lithuania after his car fell off a drawbridge into a river, according to European media reports and Army officials.
“We are aware that a U.S. Soldier died in a vehicle related incident while on temporary duty status in Lithuania on July 28,” said John Tomassi, spokesman for U.S. Army Europe and Africa, in response to questions from the Herald. “We are in direct coordination with our host nation counterparts as an investigation has been initiated to determine the circumstances that led to this tragic incident. Our thoughts are with the family of the Soldier involved. No further information is available at this time.”
Army officials would not immediately verify if the soldier was from a Fort Hood unit; however, Fort Hood soldiers are currently deployed to Europe and have been training with NATO allies in the region, including Lithuania and nearby Latvia, two of the Baltic States.
According to the The Baltic Times on Thursday, the soldier “based in Latvia died after his car fell off a drawbridge into a river in the Lithuanian port city of Klaipeda.”
According to the sources, the 30-year-old U.S. serviceman was in civilian clothes. He had come from Latvia in a rented car and stayed in a hotel in Klaipeda, the Times reported. At the time of the accident, the drawbridge was up and the barrier was down.
Army officials said on Friday they were still trying to notify next of kin of the soldier’s death.
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