A Moroccan military search team recovered the remains of 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr. on Saturday morning, ending a one-week search and triggering a fresh phase of an investigation into a training accident at the African Lion 2026 exercise. The 27-year-old officer was found in shallow water along the Atlantic shoreline at approximately 8:55 a.m. local time, roughly one mile from where two American soldiers reportedly entered the sea on May 2.
Initial accounts shared by US Army Africa describe an attempted rescue. According to the early investigation, one service member jumped in to save the other after he fell from sea cliffs near the Cap Draa Training Area outside Tan-Tan in southern Morocco. Both soldiers were swept out by the current. The Atlantic on that stretch of coast is known for powerful rip currents that have claimed several lives in recent training seasons.
A US defense official confirmed late on Sunday that the search for the second soldier remains active. Roughly 600 personnel — drawn from US, Moroccan and partner-nation contingents — are involved, supported by Moroccan navy patrol craft and US helicopter assets. The Department of Defense said it would identify the second soldier upon notification of next of kin.
African Lion is the largest US-led military exercise on the African continent, drawing more than 40 partner nations and centring this year on combined-arms operations in southern Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal and Italy. The 2026 iteration involved roughly 10,000 troops across the four host countries. Training scenarios at Cap Draa typically combine littoral assault, helicopter insertion and small-unit infantry manoeuvre.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a statement issued Saturday evening, called Key "the kind of officer the Army was built around" and said the family had been notified. The US embassy in Rabat said it was in close contact with the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces.
The accident is the first fatality at African Lion since 2022, when a French paratrooper died during an air-mobile component of the same exercise. The Pentagon has not announced a pause to the wider exercise schedule.
A formal Army investigation, ordered by US Africa Command on Saturday, will examine sea-state advisories, the cliff-edge safety perimeter at the Cap Draa training site and the chain of decision leading to soldiers operating near the shoreline. Initial findings are expected within 30 days.