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2 Navy SEALs fell into the water whereas on a mission off the coast of Somalia on Thursday.
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A search and rescue operation remains to be underway.
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The pair had been boarding a vessel when one fell into the water, and the opposite jumped in to assist.
Two Navy SEALs are lacking off the coast of Somalia after falling into the water throughout a nighttime boarding mission on Thursday, US officers informed the Related Press.
The pair had been climbing aboard a vessel whereas on a mission within the Gulf of Aden when excessive waves knocked one into the ocean.
The second SEAL jumped in after him as a part of Navy SEAL protocol to assist a comrade at risk and each vanished, the AP mentioned.
A search and rescue mission is underway to seek out two sailors, the US Central Command mentioned in a statement Saturday.
The officers spoke to the AP on the situation of anonymity.
The Gulf of Aden has been a focus of Navy exercise in current weeks. Nonetheless, officers informed the AP and the Washington Post that the incident was not associated to the continued United States response to Houthi-led assaults on transport within the Crimson Sea or to Iran seizing an oil tanker.
Nevertheless, two US officers later told the Post that the 2 sailors had been despatched to seek for suspected Iranian weaponry heading for the Houthis in Yemen.
The small print of the Navy SEALs’ mission and which vessel they had been attempting to board are nonetheless unclear, although it’s recognized that pirates roam the coast of Somalia attempting to find cargo ships to hijack.
US forces typically work with different nations on counter-piracy missions within the space, which typically contains boarding vessels to make sure they’ve correct credentials and usually are not transporting illicit items, in line with the Put up.
The US Navy has typically performed such interdiction missions to intercept weapons on ships heading for Houthi-controlled Yemen, per AP.
US Central Command, or CENTCOM, mentioned the 2 sailors had been “forward-deployed to the U.S. fifth Fleet (C5F) space of operations supporting all kinds of missions.”
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told CBS’s Face The Nation on Sunday that the search is “nonetheless ongoing” and that the vessel was concerned in a “regular interdiction” operation to attempt to disrupt the circulate of weapon provides to Yemen.
“It is not associated to the strikes that we took in opposition to the Houthis,” he mentioned.
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