1 killed, 22 injured in West Point, NY cadet training accident

One US Military Academy cadet was killed and 22 cadets and soldiers were injured when their tactical vehicle rolled over on a dirt road, during a summer training exercise southeast of West Point in New York.

The incident happened around 6:35 am local time on Thursday, as the Light Medium Tactical Vehicle (LMTV) was leaving Camp Natural Bridge, where cadets live and train during the summer.

Twenty cadets and two soldiers were injured, West Point spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Ophardt told reporters. One cadet was deceased.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo later said that the number of fatalities could rise, based on the information he was given about the accident.

“It's the anniversary of D-Day. It really is a sad, sad moment,” Cuomo told WAMC radio.

President Donald Trump, who is returning from D-Day commemorations in Normandy, tweeted his condolences and prayers for the cadets involved.

A LMTV is a 2.5-ton truck commonly used by the US military. The high-axle vehicles are “very prone to rollover,” Alan C. Mack, deputy commissioner for emergency management in Orange County, where West Point is located, told the New York Times.

The incident comes less than two weeks after commencement ceremony for the most diverse graduating class in West Point’s history. The guest speaker was Vice President Mike Pence, who told the graduating class it was a “virtual certainty that you will fight on a battlefield for America at some point in your life.”

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