On May 14, the US military confirmed it had recovered the body of Sergeant Mariyah Symone Collington, 19, of Taveres, Florida – the second soldier missing during joint military exercises in Morocco. The body of First Lieutenant Kendrick Lamont Key Jr., an air defense officer, had been found earlier.
According to a statement from US Army Europe and Africa Command, both soldiers died after falling from a cliff during a recreational hike off duty. The Royal Moroccan Armed Forces used a helicopter to transport Collington's remains to the morgue of the Moulay El Hassan Military Hospital in Guelmim, Morocco. The bodies of both soldiers are now being returned to the United States.
Collington enlisted in 2023 under the delayed-entry program and began active service in 2024. She completed basic combat training and advanced training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as an air defense and missile crew member (14P). In February 2025, she was assigned to Charlie Company, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, based in Ansbach, Germany, and was promoted to sergeant on May 1, 2026. Her awards include the Army Service Ribbon.
The two soldiers were reported missing on May 2 after participating in African Lion – the annual US-led multinational exercise held from April in four nations: Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, and Senegal, involving over 7,000 troops from more than 30 countries. It is the largest US joint exercise in Africa since 2004. A spokesman for US Army Southern European Task Force-Africa (SETAF-AF) said the search involved more than 1,000 military and civilian personnel from the US and Morocco, using boats, aircraft, and artificial intelligence technology.
The incident is under investigation. In 2012, two US Marines were killed and two others injured in a helicopter crash in the southern Moroccan city of Agadir during the same exercise series.
