Remains of second US soldier recovered after Morocco cliff fall during African Lion

The remains of the second U.S. soldier, identified as Spc. Mariyah Symone Collington, were recovered Wednesday, the Army said, ending an intensive multinational search that had stretched for over a week. Collington, 19, of Tavares, Florida, and 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr., an Air Defense Artillery officer, fell off a cliff while on an off‑duty recreational hike during the African Lion 26 exercise. The two were reported missing on May 2, the Army said, triggering the deployment of air, naval, and artificial intelligence assets across a rugged stretch of Moroccan terrain.

Collington served as an air and missile defense crewmember. She entered the Army’s Delayed Entry Program in 2023, began active duty in 2024, and completed Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. She was assigned 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 include the Army Service Ribbon.

“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 U.S. Army Europe and Africa statement said. The recovery followed a search operation that drew on more than 1,000 U.S. and Moroccan military and civilian personnel, a U.S. Navy P‑8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, unmanned aerial systems with thermal sensors, side‑scan sonar, an unmanned underwater vehicle, a Moroccan multibeam echosounder, and Coast Guard drift modeling capabilities, according to a spokesperson for U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa.

The spokesperson said the circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation. Key’s remains had been recovered in the days prior. Both soldiers are being returned to the United States.

African Lion 26, a U.S.‑led annual exercise launched in April, involves more than 7,000 personnel from over 30 nations and is taking place across Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, and Senegal. The exercise, and others like it, carry inherent risk: in 2012, two U.S. Marines were killed and two others injured when a helicopter crashed near Agadir during the same exercise series.