Navy identifies SEAL candidate who died after ‘Hell Week’

The Navy confirmed on Sunday the identity of a SEAL candidate who died after completing exhausting and high-intensity training during “Hell Week.”

The Navy said that 24-year-old Seaman Kyle Mullen, a member of the Navy’s Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL (BUD/S) class, died at Sharp Coronado Hospital in California on Friday after completing “Hell Week.”

“We extend our deepest sympathies to Seaman Mullen’s family for their loss,” Rear Admiral H.W. Howard III said in the Navy’s statement.

“We are extending every form of support we can to the Mullen family and Kyle’s BUD/S classmates,” Howard added.

Mullen had completed the rigorous training, which marked “the first phase of the Navy SEAL attribute assessment and selection pathway.”

The Navy added that an investigation into the 24-year-old’s death was underway.

He was not actively training at the time of his death, but the Navy said on Saturday that Mullen and another Navy SEAL candidate were taken to the hospital “several hours after their Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL (BUD/S) class successfully completed Hell Week.” 

Also on Saturday, the Navy said the second candidate was in stable condition at Naval Medical Center San Diego.

NBC News has reported that Derek Lovelace, a trainee, died in 2016 during a pool exercise in what the Navy ruled an accident. At the time of his death, Lovelace was the fifth trainee to lose consciousness during pool exercises in four months, according to Navy records.