One of the three soldiers injured during a parachute training accident in Florida was released from the hospital Thursday night, according to the Army Recruiting Command.
The other two injured soldiers remain in critical condition in a Miami hospital, the Army said Friday.
The command does not release the names of injured soldiers, but the service said in a statement that they are members of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, known as the Golden Knights. The team was conducting a nighttime training operation at about 4 a.m. Tuesday at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Homestead, Fla., at the time of the accident.
The three injured soldiers were taken by air rescue to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. A video obtained by NBC News shows the soldiers being taken from a medical helicopter into the hospital. One soldier can be seen moving his hands to his head as he is wheeled down a hallway.
Officials with the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., confirmed they sent a team to investigate the accident.
In Friday’s news release, Kelli Bland, spokeswoman for the Army Recruiting Command, thanked everyone for their continued to support as the soldiers recover.
Since the accident, the team has ceased training, but it will begin again Tuesday, Bland said.
The Golden Knights is an aerial demonstration team of about 95 men and women, according to the team’s website. It includes four parachute units, an aviation unit and a headquarters, all based out of Fort Bragg, N.C., but reports to the Army Recruiting Command, which is based at Fort Knox, Ky.
The demonstration teams, which use five dedicated aircraft, perform at more than 100 events each year, the website stated. The tandem section is known for taking soldiers, celebrities and heads of state on jumps, and the competition section focuses on winning national and international skydiving events.
The team visits Homestead in the winter to conduct training.
The team is now training in advance of a spring schedule filled with a run of demonstrations at air shows across the globe beginning March 30 at Travis Air Force Base in California.
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