A U.S. sailor assigned to the USS Mount Whitney was killed in a vehicle accident this weekend near Formia, Italy, a U.S. Navy official said.
U.S. and Italian law enforcement officials were notified about 6 a.m. Saturday by Italians who came upon the crash scene on their way to work, said Lt. Chris Servello, a spokesman with Naval Forces Europe/6th Fleet.
Late Saturday afternoon, an Italian woman turned herself in to Italian police officials saying that she had been involved in the crash, said a U.S. Navy official.
It was unclear late Saturday what her involvement might have been.
The Navy official said, however, she was in a seperate vehicle.
The sailor’s car crashed into a tree on the side of Via Roma, Servello said. No one else was in the car, and no other vehicles were involved in the incident, he said.
The sailor’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, Servello said. He was stationed on the Mount Whitney, which is based in Gaeta, Italy, and is the flag ship of the Navy’s 6th Fleet. Gaeta is roughly 15 minutes from Formia.
Italian and U.S. Navy officials are investigating the incident, Servello said.