PORTLAND - Spec. Nathan Nakis, an Oregon State University student, was killed in a vehicle accident outside Mosul, Iraq, Maj. Arnold Strong of the Oregon National Guard said Tuesday.

Nakis, 19, a native of Sedro-Woolley, Wash., is the first Oregon National Guard soldier killed in the conflict.

Strong said the family has been notified of the accident. A friend picked up the phone at their home Tuesday night, and said Nakis' family did not want to speak to reporters.

On Monday, Nakis was driving a vehicle with nine other guardsmen on board when he swerved to avoid a hole that he thought could be a possible explosive device, Strong said. The vehicle hit an oil slick, and Nakis lost control of the car, Strong said.

Nakis was airlifted from the truck to a support hospital in Iraq, and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

He was with the Albany-based Bravo Company, 52nd Engineers Battalion. The nine other soldiers in the truck, from the same company, were also injured, but none had life-threatening injuries, Strong said.

The unit recently finished building the House of Hope Orphanage for boys in Mosul, and are also building homes for homeless families and roads, according to the National Guard.

Nakis was a 2002 graduate of Sedro-Woolley High School and completed training as a combat engineer at Ford Leonard Wood, Mo., according to information posted on the Web by family members. He had initially been assigned to a unit in Bellingham, Wash.

He began classes at Oregon State in January in civil and forest engineering.

"Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the Nakis family during this tragic time. He was an extraordinary soldier in an extraordinary unit doing some of the most important work in rebuilding the nation of Iraq," said Brig. Gen. Raymond C. Byrne, Jr., Acting Adjutant General of the Oregon National Guard.

Nakis was named "soldier of the week," on Aug. 25 of this year on the unit's web site. In a statement nominating him, his family wrote, "Nathan has always loved three things: playing in the dirt, being outdoors and acting like a soldier."

Later in the same message, family members wrote, "He seems upbeat in his messages and is hoping that they continue to provide necessary help to the Iraqi people. We all hope they all come home safe and sound very soon."