Two US Navy sailors reported missing off coast of Somalia during operation

Two navy sailors who are part of the US 5th Fleet (C5F) area of operations are reported missing at sea off the coast of Somalia on Thursday evening, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

"For operational security purposes, we will not release additional information until the personnel recovery operation is complete. Out of respect for the families affected, we will not release further information on the missing personnel at this time," the official statement of CENTCOM read.

The missing sailors were conducting operations off the coast of Somalia.


"U.S. 5th Fleet’s area of operations encompasses about 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean. This expanse, comprising 21 nations, includes three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab al Mandeb," said the official statement of US forces' website.

Recently, Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) had warned all ships to "stay well away from Bab al-Mandab", tanker body INTERTANKO said in a note circulated to its members.

"The threat period for shipping is expected to last for several days," the note, seen by Reuters, said.

CMF is a multinational maritime partnership led by the U.S. from Bahrain, the base for the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet. CMF has 39 members, including NATO and European states, regional countries and other nations.

US strike in Yemen:
On Saturday, US forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen with an aim to degrade the Houthi movement's ability to attack maritime vessels.

"This strike was conducted by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes taken on Jan. 12 designed to degrade the Houthi's ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels," the U.S. Central Command said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

(with agency inputs)