Soldier killed on the way to military exercise when M113 armored vehicle tumbles off road

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Very Mix

A soldier of Greek armed Forces was killed after the fully tracked armored personnel carrier M113 he was driving tumbled off the national highway near Oropos, some 30 km NE of Athens. The accident occurred at 5:50 on Wednesday morning while a convoy of several M113 and military Hummer jeeps was heading to Oropos port to be loaded on a Navy ship in order to participate to the military exercise “Kataigida” (Storm).
Another soldier, who was also in the vehicle is hospitalized.
While the Army investigates the causes of the accident, private Skai TV broadcast footage showing that the track on the right side of the vehicle was broken.

It is not clear whether the accident occurred due to human error or due to the broken track.
Speaking to Proto Thema, military officers described the incident as “unprecedented” claiming that it was very difficult for such vehicles to skid. The officers suggest that it happened either due to human error with the driver to have lost control over the vehicle or due to some mechanical failure such as that the track broke and caused the skid.

Media report that when the M113 skid it felt in a 2-meter deep ditch off the road. Rescuers pulled out the soldier who had suffered very serious injuries. He died on the way to the hospital. Stathis Krokos was just 20 years old.

More pictures form the accident here
PS I don’t want to hear that the track was broken due to Troika-imposed austerity that has hit also the Greek Armed Forces. Neither do I want to read that the USA had delivered M113 with mechanical failures – although I do know whether this M113 had come to Greece donated from US-Army stock one year ago or it was one of the stone-old vehicles of the Greek Army.