2 Soldiers Killed In Accident On South Carolina Base

COLUMBIA, SC — The two soldiers killed in an accident involving a military vehicle on Fort Jackson in South Carolina were identified Saturday.

Military officials identified the soldiers as Pvt. Ethan Shrader, of Prospect Tennessee and Pvt. Timothy Ashcraft, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Six other soldiers were injured in the accident on Friday and two of them are in critical condition, officials said.

The injured soldiers were identified as Pvt. Emmett Foreman, of Daleville, Alabama, Pvt. Hannah New, of Cartersville, Georgia, Pvt. Benjamin Key, of Cookville, Tennessee, Pvt. Alan Michael Kryszak, of Clarksville, Tennessee, Pvt. Cardre Jackson Jr., of Laurel, Maryland and Pvt. James Foster, of Macon, Georgia.

"We are continuing to support everyone affected by this tragic event," Maj. Gen. Pete Johnson, Commander of the U.S. Army Training Center and Fort Jackson, said in a statement.

An investigation into what caused the accident is underway.

Fort Jackson trains 50 percent of the Army’s Basic Combat Training load and 60 percent of the women entering the Army each year, according to information provided by the base. More than 36,000 basic training and 8000 advanced individual training soldiers are trained at the base every year.

Photo: In this photo taken Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016 a U.S. Army recruit learns to handle an M-4 carbine during marksmanship training at Fort Jackson, S.C. As gun ownership among young Americans drops and the Army trains a new generation more accustomed to blasting out emojis on cellphones than taking aim at targets, drill sergeants are confronting a new challenge: More than half of raw recruits have never held, let alone fired, a weapon. Photo by Gerry Broome/Associated Press