A 23 year-old US Navy sailor assigned to the guided-missile destroyer ‘USS Jason Dunham’ died following injury sustained while conducting small boat training on Sunday, 8 July, according to Navy officials as quoted by USNI news. The sailor was identified as Ensign Sarah Mitchell, 23, of Feasterville, Pennsylvania.
The sailor was medically evacuated to a hospital in Aqaba, Jordan, where she was pronounced dead at 12:45 p.m.
There is no evidence of foul play and the sailor died in a “non-hostile” environment, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Rob Manning confirmed to local media.
No other sailors were injured and the incident is under investigation.
Mitchell graduated from Virginia Tech in May of 2017 and reported to the destroyer on 5 June 2017, according to USNI.
Dunham is currently assigned to the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group and departed its homeport at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. on 2 June. The ship entered the Red Sea on 28 June.
Earlier this month, the ship conducted operations with the Egyptian Navy.
The incident comes a year after the US Navy was shaken by two successive collisions of missile destroyers in June and August 2017, that killed a total of 17 sailors.
These losses are a solemn reminder that our business is inherently dangerous — but through training and pertinent planning, we always try to mitigate the risks to our personnel who are our most valuable asset,
…Manning added commenting on the accident.
