A Vernon man serving with the U.S. Navy in Kenya was killed Wednesday in a car accident, the Navy announced Friday.

Petty Officer First Class Alec Mazur, 35, died and four other military personnel were injured in the crash in Mombasa, according to Navy spokesman Scott Mohr. Mombasa is located on Kenya's southeastern coast, along the Indian Ocean.

Mohr said the crash is under investigation, but was not combat-related.

Mazur, a 17-year Navy veteran, was doing site survey work in Manda Bay, Kenya, with Underwater Construction Team One, Mohr said. The work was in support of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, known as Operation Enduring Freedom, but Mohr could offer no other details.

Mohr did not know when Mazur's body would be returned home.

Mazur leaves behind a wife, Dawn, a son, Dylan, 7, and a daughter, Bree, 4 months. He also is survived by a brother, Josh, and his parents, Linda and John, who live in Vernon.

Mazur joined the Navy in September 1988 after graduating from Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, according to his brother. In addition to serving in Kenya, Alec Mazur completed tours of duty in Iraq during both Gulf Wars, his brother said.

Alec Mazur had just completed his latest tour in Iraq, and had been in Kenya for just a few weeks, Josh Mazur said.

John Mazur said his son appreciated his military

service and didn't plan on leaving any time soon.

"He was going to make a career out of it," he said.

Josh Mazur said his brother was last home during the holidays, when he made the trip up with his wife and children from their home at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base in Norfolk, Va.

"Our family would get together (for Christmas), but it was more special when he'd come with his wife and kids," Josh Mazur said.

Josh Mazur appreciated his brother's efforts to keep the family together, even when they were half-a-world apart.

"He was the glue of the family," Josh Mazur said. "If we went camping, it was because of him."

Alec, his brother and his father were avid deer hunters, and they shared that bond even after Alec joined the military, Josh Mazur said.

"Whenever hunting season came, he'd always come out with me and my dad," Josh Mazur remembered.