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The soldier was identified as Spc. Mariyah Symone Collington of
Taveres, Fla., the U.S. military Europe and Africa said in a
statement. She was 19 years old.
“Royal Moroccan Armed Forces transported the Soldier’s remains
by a Moroccan helicopter to the morgue of Moulay El Hassan
Military Hospital in Guelmim, Morocco,” the statement said.
Collington served as an air and missile defense crewmember and
was assigned to Charlie Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense
Artillery Regiment, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command,
U.S. Army Europe and Africa said.
Collington entered the Regular Army’s Delayed Entry Program in
2023 before beginning active-duty service in 2024. She completed
Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort
Sill in Oklahoma, as a 14P air and missile defense crewmember.
She reported to Charlie Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense
Artillery Regiment, in Ansbach, Germany, in February 2025 and
was promoted to specialist on May 1, 2026.
Her awards and decorations include the Army Service Ribbon.
The announcement came days after the military said the remains
of another soldier, 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr., a 14A Air
Defense Artillery officer, had been recovered. The two soldiers
fell off a cliff during an off-duty recreational hike in
Morocco. Their remains are en route to the United States.
A spokesperson for U.S. Army Southern European Task Force,
Africa told The Associated Press that the circumstances
surrounding the incident remain under investigation.
The two soldiers were reported missing May 2 after participating
in African Lion, an annual multinational military exercise held
in Morocco. Their disappearance triggered a search operation
involving more than 1,000 U.S. and Moroccan military and
civilian personnel, the SETAF-AF spokesperson added.
Assets deployed during the operation included a U.S. Navy P-8
Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, unmanned aerial systems,
thermal and ISR sensors, an unmanned underwater vehicle,
side-scan sonar, a Moroccan multibeam echosounder and U.S. Coast
Guard drift modeling capabilities, according to the
spokesperson.
African Lion 26, is a U.S.-led exercise launched in April across
four countries – Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal – with more
than 7,000 personnel from over 30 nations.
In 2012, two U.S. Marines were killed and two others injured
during a helicopter crash in Morocco’s southern city of Agadir
while taking part in the exercises
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