An American military element will continue to oversee search and rescue efforts for two soldiers who disappeared near the Moroccan coast last weekend, the Army said. The effort to find them is continuing after a week, and after the large-scale African Lion 26 exercise wrapped up yesterday.
“Search and rescue operations remain ongoing. Search patterns continue to expand west into the Atlantic as ocean‑current modeling refines planning,” a spokesman for the Army’s Southern European Task Force, Africa said in a statement to Task & Purpose.
The search for the two American soldiers has expanded west, stretching out into the Atlantic Ocean over the last week. The remaining force will “provide command and control and continue search and rescue operations,” according to SETAF, which oversaw the African Lion exercise. Stars & Stripes first reported on the American contingent remaining in the area.
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U.S. Africa Command announced that two service members were missing on Sunday, May 3. They were later confirmed to be Army soldiers who went missing near the Cap Draa Training Area in southwestern Morocco the night of Saturday, May 2 after training for that day ended. CBS News reported that the troops were hiking near oceanside cliffs and one soldier fell into the water. The second jumped in to try and rescue them, but got hit by a wave. A third soldier tried to help them both, but wasn’t able to and got back to land. The two were declared missing and search operations began.
The Army has not identified the soldiers or what unit they are assigned to.
The annual exercise started in April and ended on Friday. The exercise, held simultaneously in Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia, involved thousands of troops from dozens of nations. U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Army personnel were all at Cap Draa as part of African Lion, taking part in training involving artillery, vehicles, drones and other tactics and equipment.
A defense official told Task & Purpose that the search teams have already covered 12,000 square kilometers, along the coast and at sea. The search so far has involved more than 600 personnel from nations participating in African Lion, with most being American and Moroccan troops, including Moroccan mountaineering experts.
In the skies, the U.S. military has deployed a C-12 Huron, along with a UC-35 and a KC-130J from Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 234. Two Moroccan aircraft have also flown search flights. France and Morocco both diverted ships to help with the mission. The U.S. Army Vessel Major General Charles P. Gross also took part in efforts so far, according to photos of the logistics support ship posted to the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service.
SETAF did not say how many U.S. troops will make up the element staying in the area.
