The Army has identified two soldiers who died early Friday morning in a highway accident near Regensburg, Germany.
Killed in the accident were Spc. James R.S. Geiter and Pfc. Wayne Jamal Webb, both of the Operations Group, Joint Multinational Readiness Center, Hohenfels, according to an Army news release.
Sgt. James C. Haggerty, the driver of the vehicle, and a German passenger were injured in the predawn accident, which closed Autobahn 3 for more than five hours. Both were taken to a local hospital in nearby Neumarkt for treatment.
The four were heading back to Hohenfels from Nuremberg at about 4:30 a.m. when Haggerty tried to pass a truck near the town of Parsberg, according to Mittelbayerische Zeitung, a regional Bavarian newspaper.
The BMW that Haggerty, 24, was driving struck the truck near the rear axle and then slid underneath it, the paper reported. The truck dragged the car for about 200 meters before it came to a stop.
Geiter and Webb, who were listed as 23 and 22 years old respectively, were seated on the passenger side of the BMW, the newspaper said. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
German authorities are still investigating the accident. The newspaper said that section of A3 at the time of the accident was slightly damp, but not icy.