SOEST, Germany — In response to an April incident involving two German teens, U.S. military officials are warning about the danger of climbing atop equipment being transported by train.

One German teen was killed and his younger brother seriously injured last week in a train yard near Bremerhaven when the two climbed atop a U.S. Army tank being transported by rail and were hit by electricity from powerlines above, according to the Soester, a German newspaper.

The 18-year-old was electrocuted by arcing current from the 15,000-volt power line April 17, the newspaper said. His younger brother, 16, was severely burned as he tried to help the older teen.

According to a newsletter sent out in response to the death by U.S. Army Europe commander Gen. B.B. Bell, U.S. soldiers have also been electrocuted or critically burned after climbing on railcars and getting too close to the high-voltage power lines above German railways.

After several such fatalities and injuries, an Army policy was implemented to prohibit soldiers from getting on loaded railcars. An Army spokesman who was asked how many such deaths and injuries had occurred did not immediately provide an answer.

According to the newsletter, touching the line isn’t necessary to cause death; mere proximity is enough.

The German youths, from the Rhein-Sieg region, were on their way back from a soccer game when they took the wrong train, ended up in Soest, and had to wait for the right train back, according to the newspaper. They climbed on the tank when they got bored, the paper said.

The military transport train was going from Belgium to Bamberg, the paper said, and contained 40 tanks and other equipment.

Soest police could not respond until the powerline was turned off. According to the newspaper, nearly two hours elapsed between when the accident occurred and the youths were taken off the tank.