PARIS (AP) — The British Army says a soldier preparing commemorations for the 75th anniversary of D-Day has died in a Normandy swimming accident.

The army said the 30-year-old Lance Corporal Darren Jones of the Royal Engineers died in a canal near Pegasus Bridge over the weekend.

The regional French rescue service said Tuesday that his body was found Sunday.

Pegasus Bridge, near the town of Benouville, was among the first sites liberated by Allied forces from Nazi control. It's named after the winged horse insignia of the British 6th Airborne Division.

Extensive commemorations are being held in the U.K. and France this week to honor the nearly 160,000 troops from Britain, the United States, Canada and other nations who landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944 in history's biggest amphibious invasion.