Marine recruit's death at Parris Island under investigation

Marine recruits and drill instructors at the Parris Island training depot. (USMC)

The death of a Marine Corps recruit during boot camp at South Carolina's Parris Island training depot is under investigation.

In a statement released Sunday, Parris Island spokesman Capt. Greg Carroll identified the deceased recruit as Raheel Siddiqui, 20, of Taylor, Mich.

Carroll said Siddiqui had died Friday, just eleven days after he had arrived at Parris Island. He declined to provide further details about Siddiqui's death, except to say that the matter was being examined by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

The recruit is the fourth person to die at Parris Island since 2005, according to The Marine Corps Times. In February of that year, 19-year-old recruit Jason Tharp drowned after struggling to pass a combat water survival test. A staff sergeant was later acquitted of negligent homicide.

More recently, another recruit died after a physical fitness test in 2006 and a drill instructor was found dead in 2014.

All female Marine recruits and male recruits who live east of the Mississippi River attend boot camp at Parris Island, The Marine Corps Times reported. The training site hosts about 20,000 recruits each year who begin their Marine careers with a 13-week boot camp.

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