Eleven soldiers at a military base in Texas were hospitalized after drinking a poisonous substance they thought was alcohol, Army officials said.
The soldiers drank the unknown substance after a 10-day field exercise at Fort Bliss’s McGregor Range Complex, which ended on Thursday, Fort Bliss officials said in a statement.
Authorities said the soldiers thought they were drinking, which is prohibited at the base.
Then they started experiencing symptoms between 7:00 am and 1:00 pm the same day.
All were taken to the William Beaumont Army Medical Center, and two soldiers were admitted to the intensive care unit because they were seriously ill, officials said.
The toxicology results showed that the soldiers – who are assigned to the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 32nd Army Air Defense Command and Missiles – were suffering from ethylene glycol poisoning.
Symptoms of ethylene glycol poisoning include seizures, falling into a coma and cerebral edema in some cases, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
The US Army Criminal Investigation Command is investigating the incident.