Why is my son gone? : Families of service members call for action a year after fatal training accident By David Martin Marine families call for change after fatal accident
One year after nine U.S. service members drowned in a training accident, families of the fallen are taking steps to make sure it never happens again. Nearly a dozen Marines, including a general, have been disciplined in the July 30 accident.
Cell phone videos of the Marines crammed into an amphibious assault vehicle only last for seconds. They had no way of knowing that within hours, nine would die drowned when their vehicle sank off the coast of California.
OCEANSIDE
The families of the nine service members killed last year when their assault amphibious vehicle sank off the San Diego coast are suing the manufacturer of the vehicles, they said at an emotional news conference Thursday ahead of the one-year anniversary of the tragedy.
The families also demand the Marine Corps modify existing AAVs as well as its replacement, the amphibious combat vehicle, with more effective ways to escape what one of their attorneys called a “death trap” in the event of another sinking.
The Vietnam War-era AAV was designed and manufactured by BAE Systems, the same contractor recently awarded a $184 million contract to begin production on its replacement, the new ACV.
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