美联社
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The U.S. Marine Corps has identified all nine people killed when a Marine landing craft sank in hundreds of feet of water off the Southern California coast.
Only one of their bodies was found, despite an intense days-long search involving helicopters and boats ranging from inflatables to a Navy destroyer.
Found at the scene was Lance Cpl. Guillermo S. Perez, 20, of New Braunfels Texas. The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unitannounced on Sundaythat the others, from California, Texas, Wisconsin and Oregon, are “presumed dead.”
它们包括：PFC。加利福尼亚州科罗纳的19岁的Bryan J. Baltierra；Lance Cpl。加利福尼亚州蒙特贝洛的21岁的Marco A. Barranco；PFC。威斯康星州橡树溪（Oak Creek）的19岁的埃文·巴斯（Evan A. Bath）；美国海军医院的克里斯托弗·格尼姆（Christopher Gnem），现年22岁，来自加利福尼亚州斯托克顿；PFC。俄勒冈州本德市21岁的杰克·瑞安·奥斯特罗夫斯基（Jack Ryan Ostrovsky）；CPL。 Wesley A. Rodd, 23, of Harris, Texas; Lance Cpl. Chase D. Sweetwood, 19, of Portland, Oregon; and Cpl. Cesar A. Villanueva, 21, of Riverside, California.
“Literally every asset we have available” was mobilized in the search for seven Marines and a Navy corpsman, Lt. Gen. Joseph Osterman, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said Friday.
They were aboard an amphibious assault vehicle that was heading back to a Navy ship Thursday evening after a routine training exercise when it began taking on water about a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) from Navy-owned San Clemente Island, off San Diego.
Other assault vehicles quickly responded but couldn’t stop the 26-ton, tank-like vehicle from quickly sinking, Osterman said.
“The assumption is that it went completely to the bottom” several hundred feet below, Osterman said. That was too deep for divers, and Navy and Coast Guard were discussing ways to reach the sunken vehicle to get a view inside it, Osterman said.
另外七名海军陆战队被从水中救出。当局说，两人在医院处于稳定状态。
All the Marines were attached to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at nearby Camp Pendleton. They ranged in age from 19 to early 30s and all were wearing combat gear, including body armor, and flotation vests, Osterman said.
该车辆被称为AAV但被昵称为“ Amtrac”，用于“两栖拖拉机”，用于将海军陆战队及其装备从海军船只带到陆地。
Osterman说，沉没的工艺品是参与演习的13架，被设计为自然浮力，并有三个水着的舱口和两个大型部队舱口。
The vehicles have been used since 1972, and continually refurbished. Marine Corps officials said Friday they did not know the age or other details of the one that sank.
The Marine Corps commandant, Gen. David Berger, suspended waterborne operations of more than 800 amphibious assault vehicles across the branch until the cause of the accident is determined.
This is the third time in recent years that Camp Pendleton Marines have been injured or died in amphibious assault vehicles during training exercises.
In 2017, 14 Marines and one Navy sailor were hospitalized after their vehicle hit a natural gas line, igniting a fire that engulfed the landing craft at Camp Pendleton.
In 2011, a Marine died when an amphibious assault vehicle in a training exercise sank offshore of the camp.
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