A U.S. sailor died Sunday after suffering injuries while conducting small-boat operations in the Middle East, the Pentagon announced Monday.
The sailor was deployed with the Norfolk, Virginia-based destroyer Jason Dunham when the incident took place in the Red Sea, according to the Pentagon release.
The sailor was evacuated to a hospital in Jordan and was pronounced dead at 12:45 p.m. local time.
There was no indication of foul play, and the sailor died “in a nonhostile (sic) environment,” the Pentagon release stated.
The Navy is investigating.
His name is being withheld pending next of kin notification, according to the Pentagon.
The sailor’s death marks the second U.S. service member to have died over the weekend.
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On Sunday, the Pentagon identified a soldier killed Saturday in a purported insider attack in Afghanistan.
Cpl. Joseph Maciel, 20, was killed in the Tarin Kowt district of Uruzgan province.
Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack but were reported to be stable, according to the Pentagon.
Few other details were available regarding what happened, but allied Afghan forces turning their weapons on their NATO counterparts has been a persistent threat for Western troops during America’s longest war.
Maciel was deployed with the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, supporting an Army advisory unit tasked with training Afghan forces.
Geoff is the managing editor of Military Times, but he still loves writing stories. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com.
