A pair of U.S. Navy SEALs who went missing in the middle of an operation to seize Iranian weapons from a vessel off the coast of Somalia have been declared deceased after more than a week of searching, according to military authorities.
“We regret to announce that after a 10-day exhaustive search, our two missing U.S. Navy SEALs have not been located and their status has been changed to deceased,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Sunday. Adding that it was “now conducting recovery operations,” the command said that no further information, including a timeline on releasing the sailors’ identities, would be immediately released “out of respect for the families.”
The two SEALs were reported as lost at sea during the Jan. 11 raid on an unflagged boat bound for Houthi forces in Yemen. A team was dispatched from a floating base, the U.S.S. Lewis B. Puller, to identify and board the vessel in the Arabian Sea when one of the sailors slipped from a ladder amid rough seas. Another, per protocol, dove in after his teammate, CNN reported earlier this week.
