Sailor from USS Nimitz Dies in Fall

A U.S. Navy sailor died in San Diego Saturday morning from injuries sustained in a fall aboard the carrier USS Nimitz, according to the Navy. 

The victim, logistics specialist seaman Juan José Garcia-Herrera, 21, was returning from shore Friday night. The gangway to the carrier was set up to connect the pier with an aircraft elevator, which had been lowered for this purpose. Early reports suggest that he lost his balance and went off the edge of the aircraft elevator, the Navy said in a statement, and he fell several stories onto the pier. He was evacuated to a trauma center in San Diego, where he died from his injuries early on Saturday morning.  

Seaman Garcia-Herrera had been assigned to the Nimitz since June 2017, the Navy said in a statement. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is looking into the circumstances surrounding his death. 

Bill Petkovski, deputy public affairs officer for the USS Nimitz, said that the accident was uncommon. "That's one of the things that's so stunning about it," he told Military.com. "Our prayers are with the sailor's family."

The Nimitz is homeported in Bremerton, and she is presently in port at Naval Air Station North Island for routine training operations, according a spokesman for the ship.