Four personnel were still hospitalized Friday evening, one day after a training incident on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, killed one soldier and injured seven others, officials from U.S. Special Operations Command said.
The Army on Thursday announced that Staff Sgt. Alexander Dalida, 32, died in the incident, which occurred during demolitions training with students and cadre from the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.
Dalida was enrolled in the Special Forces Qualification Course at the Special Warfare Center and School.
Three of the injured were treated and released Thursday. USASOC would not release additional information on the four who are still in the hospital, citing privacy concerns.
An observer from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is one of the seven people injured, according to USASOC. He received minor injuries.
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Media reports in the aftermath of the incident said as many as four soldiers had been killed, USASOC spokesman Lt. Col. Robert Bockholt pushed back against those reports on Thursday night, calling those reports “incorrect.”
On Friday, USASOC in its statement said training incidents of this scope and nature involving demolitions are rare.
”The U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School has not had an incident involving demolitions resulting in injury in more than 20 years,” USASOC said. “This training is inherently dangerous. Cadre and staff do everything within their power to ensure that the training we conduct is safe, with the well-being of our students always as our top priority.”
The incident is under investigation.
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
