Dubai: Two US Navy civilians have died in Bahrain while working in support of US military operations, officials said.
The two were identified as Marcus D. Prince, 22, and Michael M. Baptiste, 60.
Prince, from Norfolk, Virginia, died on April 26 while Baptiste, from Brooklyn, New York, died two days later.
Both men reportedly died in Juffair, a residential neighbourhood in the capital Manama, close to the US Naval Support Activity, but the circumstances surrounding the deaths are not related, a US Fifth Fleet official reportedly said on Monday.
According to the Pentagon, the two men died of “non-combat related causes”, but no further details were provided.
Prince was assigned to USNS Pecos while Baptiste was assigned to Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Centre Detachment Bahrain at the naval facility. The unit’s mission is to provide engineering and technical services for maintenance and modernisation of naval ships and craft in the Fifth Fleet area of responsibility, Stars and Stripes reported.
Baptiste who served 24 years in the Navy and reached the rank of chief petty officer, had received various awards, including the Kuwait Liberation medal, bestowed on members of the US military who participated in Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm and the Liberation of Kuwait.
