Soldiers among freeway fatalities

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Three of the men killed and one injured in a fiery accident on H-1 Freeway were soldiers, according to the 25th Infantry Division (Light) at Schofield Barracks.

One of the dead was identified as Spc. Jason J. Bordwell, 22, of Schenectady, N.Y.

Bordwell, who was assigned as a computer analyst with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 125th Signal Battalion, was in one of the two cars that plowed into the back of a flatbed truck.

The names of two other soldiers who were killed were withheld until their families could be notified.

The soldier who survived the accident, Spc. Carlos Molestina-Arteaga, 23, of Bloomfield, N.J., was also assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 125th Signal Battalion. Information on his condition was not released.

The soldiers were in two Mitsubishi Eclipse cars that were speeding westbound on H-1 shortly after 3 a.m. Friday. The cars slammed into the back of a Safety Systems Hawai'i flatbed truck, and the three vehicles burst into flames, killing Mariano Melvin Salangdron Sr., a passenger in the truck, and injuring Carl Koonce III, the truck's driver.

Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or at kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.