Washington: Based to the Pentagon and regional authorities, a US Army soldier stationed in Germany was killed on Tuesday when the armoured vehicle she was riding in as a part of a US convoy was hit by a semi-truck driven by a civilian.

The victim, a member of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, was looking out of her Stryker vehicle's roof hatch when it was struck. The heavy door struck her in the head, causing such injuries that "she died a short time later in a nearby hospital," according to Juergen Harwardt, chief superintendent of the Weiden police.

In a statement released on Wednesday, US Army Europe and Africa noted the fatal accident that occurred the day before on an autobahn in Germany's Bavaria region. Despite German police confirming the service member was a 24-year-old woman, US officials have chosen to withhold her name pending notification of her next of kin.

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In a press release, the military described the soldier as being in a Stryker, an armoured fighting vehicle, "when a civilian semi-truck struck the military vehicle as it merged onto Autobahn 93." "Civilian medical personnel attended to the soldier and transported him to a nearby hospital, where the attending physician pronounced him dead."

According to local law enforcement, the accident happened after the armoured vehicle and other vehicles in the convoy merged onto the highway because a German truck driver was unable to switch lanes in time. It is unknown if the soldier was wearing a helmet at the time of the collision. 

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Following the collision, there were no additional injuries among US soldiers.

The Grafenwoehr Training Area, the largest Army training facility in Europe, is not far from the southeast German town of Weiden, where the US military is currently conducting a series of drills.

Another accident involving US Army soldiers stationed nearby occurred last week as a result of a driver losing control of a light-medium tactical vehicle while travelling to a range close to the Grafenwoehr complex. Despite the vehicle turning over, none of the eight soldiers were seriously hurt.

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Tuesday's incident also occurs after one earlier this year in which, according to Stars and Stripes, two Army trucks carrying 'tonnes of missiles and munitions' collided on a German motorway. Three other American soldiers were injured less severely than the seriously injured one, who needed to be airlifted to a hospital.