Casablanca, Morocco – The U.S. Army announced Wednesday the recovery of the remains of Spc. Mariyah Symone Collington, 19, from Taveres, Florida, who was the second soldier to go missing during military exercises in Morocco. This recovery concludes a multinational search operation that utilized air, naval, and artificial intelligence assets.
According to a statement from U.S. military Europe and Africa, Royal Moroccan Armed Forces transported Collington’s remains via helicopter to the Moulay El Hassan Military Hospital morgue in Guelmim, Morocco.
Collington served as an air and missile defense crewmember, assigned to Charlie Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa. She entered the Regular Army’s Delayed Entry Program in 2023, began active-duty service in 2024, and completed Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. She reported to her unit in Ansbach, Germany, in February 2025 and was promoted to specialist on May 1, 2026. Her awards and decorations included the Army Service Ribbon.
This recovery follows the military’s earlier announcement regarding the retrieval of 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr., an Air Defense Artillery officer. The two soldiers went missing on May 2 after participating in African Lion, an annual multinational military exercise held in Morocco. They reportedly fell off a cliff during an off-duty recreational hike.
Their remains are currently en route to the United States. A spokesperson for U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, informed The Associated Press that the circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation.
Their disappearance triggered an extensive search operation involving more than 1,000 U.S. and Moroccan military and civilian personnel. 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.
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