A second Marine in recent weeks was found unresponsive in a barracks room and later declared dead, officials say.
The Corps is investigating the death of a female Marine who was assigned to 9th Engineer Support Battalion, based out of Okinawa, Japan, according to a news release.
She was taken to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Okinawa on Friday after she was found unresponsive in her barracks at Camp Hansen. She was pronounced dead at 1:06 a.m.
Officials are withholding the Marine's name until 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified. No additional details were immediately available. The unidentified woman — authorities are waiting 24 hours after contacting the deceased's next of kin to release her name — was stationed aboard Camp Hansen on Okinawa. She served with 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group.A spokesman for III Marine Expeditionary Force said medical officials at U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa pronounced the woman dead at 1:06 a.m. local time May 8. The cause of death remains under investigation.
"We at 3rd MLG send our thoughts and prayers to the family of this Marine, and are saddened by the loss of one of our members," officials with III Marine Expeditionary Force officials said in a statement.
The loss comes just days weeks after the death of Gunnery Sgt. Eugene Jones, a Hawaii-based Marine discovered unresponsive in a barracks room while attending an enlisted professional military education course aboard Camp Pendleton, California, on April 29.
Jones, who is survived by his wife and three children, served with Headquarters Battalion at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. His death also likewise remains under investigation.
Another Okinawa-based Marine, Lance Cpl. Michael A. Tuttle, died under similar circumstances in November. Medical officials at the naval hospital declared him dead after he was found unresponsive in his Camp Kinser barracks.
