1 Dead, 4 Nearly Drown During Navy SEAL Training In 2016A Navy SEAL student who died two weeks ago was the fifth trainee in four months to lose consciousness during a pool exercise at the SEAL basic training program in California, a dramatic increase in pool blackout reports compared to recent years, according to Navy injury data obtained by NBC News and The Virginian-Pilot.
There have been as many pool blackouts documented so far this year as were reported over the past 10 years combined at the notoriously grueling training course in Coronado, according to the injury data.
The surge in reports of SEAL candidates passing out during pool drills - punctuated on May 6 by the death of 21-year-old Seaman James Derek Lovelace - has raised questions about how closely instructors are following safety protocols and whether the training has become more dangerous in recent years.
For more on SEAL training watch Cynthia McFadden tonight on NBC Nightly News.
An instructor involved in the exercise on the day Lovelace died has been temporarily removed from training duty, pending an investigation.
The Navy, though, says there hasn't actually been an increase in pool blackouts at Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALs training, known commonly as BUD/S. Navy officials also maintain that safety standards have not wavered.
Related: Navy SEAL Trainee Dies After Passing Out In Training Pool
The injury data shows an uptick only because the command that oversees SEAL training has recently mandated more accurate reporting of pool injuries following the blackout deaths of two SEALs at a Virginia Beach training pool last year, said Lt. Trevor Davids, a spokesman for the Special Warfare Training Center.
Read the Pilot's version of this story.
Previously, Davids acknowledged, the training center had not always reported to the Naval Safety Center in Norfolk each time a trainee lost consciousness, as required beginning more than 25 years ago following another fatality in a Navy training pool. The safety center tracks all Navy training injuries to identify trends and make recommendations to improve safety.
"What you're seeing in the data is more rigorous documentation," Davids said, suggesting that five students losing consciousness in four months wasn't unusual at BUD/S. "The instructors have been told we want more fidelity in the reporting."
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