Firefighters open highway A93 near Weiden, Germany, after a military convoy accident closed the road for several hours on Aug. 1, 2023. A 24-year-old soldier died when the armored personnel carrier she was traveling in collided with a civilian semitruck. (Weiden Fire Department)
WEIDEN, Germany — A U.S. soldier assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment was killed Tuesday when a Stryker she was traveling in collided with a truck on highway A93 near Weiden in der Oberpfalz, Germany.
The armored vehicle was traveling north as part of a military convoy that was merging onto the highway at about 11:15 a.m., Weiden highway police said in a statement.
As the armored vehicle merged, a 57-year-old German driving a semi truck in the right lane was unable to switch lanes in time, resulting in a lateral collision, Weiden highway police said.
The U.S. soldier, 24, was looking out of the roof hatch of the vehicle. During the collision, the heavy hatch struck her in the head, police said.
“She was so badly injured that she died a short time later in a nearby hospital,” Juergen Harwardt, chief superintendent of Weiden Police, said in the statement.
Weiden law enforcement officials weren’t available Tuesday night to answer whether the soldier was wearing a helmet during the collision.
No other injuries were reported among the military personnel or the German truck driver involved in the accident. Emergency responders closed the highway for several hours as German and U.S. Army military police investigated the accident scene.
The soldier’s identity is being withheld pending next-of-kin notification, U.S. Army Europe and Africa said on Wednesday.
Weiden is about 30 minutes from the main gate of the Grafenwoehr Training Area, the largest U.S. Army training post in Europe.
The accident marks the second tactical vehicle crash involving Army troops in less than a week during training in Bavaria.
Earlier nonfatal accidents include an armored vehicle crash in Amberg in April and a military transport rollover near Vilseck on Thursday.
The accident Tuesday also was the third motor vehicle-related death of a U.S. soldier in the German state this year.
Stars and Stripes reporter Michael Slavin contributed to this report.
