Accidents Kill U.S. Troops in Africa, Bahrain
GRASKOP, South Africa — A U.S. serviceman who fell down a waterfall while sightseeing on a break from duty in flooded Mozambique was found dead Saturday, South African police said. In a separate incident in Bahrain, a U.S. sailor died after falling from a hotel.
In South Africa, Airman Basic Jeffrey Costa had been missing since Friday afternoon, when he was swimming in a river above Lisbon Falls, the U.S. Air Force said in a statement. He hit a rock, was knocked unconscious and went over the 70-yard-high waterfall, the statement cited witnesses as saying.
Lt. Col. Tom Dolney said a body found Saturday had not been identified. But Police Inspector Olga Marais said the body found by rescuers was believed to be Costa’s.
Costa, an aircraft maintenance specialist, was assigned to the 352nd Special Operations Group at Mildenhall, England. His hometown and age were not released.
In Bahrain, a U.S. sailor died from injuries sustained in a fall from a hotel, the U.S. 5th Fleet said Saturday. The unidentified sailor fell from the fourth floor of the Mannai Plaza Hotel in Juffair, a suburb southeast of the capital, Manama, on Friday, the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said in a statement.
The cause of the fall was being investigated, the statement said, and the sailor’s name was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
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