Marine killed in training accident at Twentynine Palms base

A Marine was killed this week in a training accident at the Marine base at Twentynine Palms, officials announced Wednesday.

Cpl. Nicholas Sell, 21, from Eagle Point, Ore., died of burns when an amphibious assault vehicle caught fire Monday, the Marine Corps said. Four others were injured.

Three of the four were treated and released from the base hospital. The fourth is in stable condition at Arrowhead Medical Center.

Sell was assigned to the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division. He enlisted in May 2010 and had deployed to Afghanistan.

On the Hi-Desert Star Facebook page, a post from Sell’s aunt, Becky Sell Carreon Brennan, described the family’s pain:

“We are really struggling with how he died. We have six other young men, all his cousins, who have served or are serving, and my siblings and I always dreaded ‘that’ knock on the door.”

Sell, Brennan wrote, “was just a kid who grew up in southern Oregon, enjoying life with his parents, older brother and half-brother, many, many friends, and he was just starting to figure out life.”

The accident is under investigation, the Marine Corps said.

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tony.perry@latimes.com