{"id":220133,"date":"2026-05-05T16:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/220133\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T16:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:28:08","slug":"one-missing-us-soldier-in-morocco-dove-into-water-trying-to-save-comrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/220133\/","title":{"rendered":"One missing US soldier in Morocco dove into water trying to save comrade"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of two U.S. Army<\/a> soldiers who went missing off the coast of Morocco<\/a> over the weekend jumped into the ocean in an attempt to save a fellow service member.<\/p>\n

The soldiers were reported missing Saturday night<\/a> near the Cap Draa Training Area, close to the coastal city of Tan-Tan, after taking part in the multinational African Lion military exercise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A U.S. defense official told the Washington Examiner that the soldiers were last seen near ocean cliffs near the Cap Draa Training Area during scheduled training. When the soldiers did not return, U.S. and Moroccan personnel began a search effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The official said initial reports indicate the two soldiers may have fallen into the ocean, and that the incident appears to be an accident, not an act of terrorism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the first soldier fell into the water, soldiers in the area tried to form a chain with their belts, but their efforts were unsuccessful, CBS reported<\/a>. Upon the failed rescue effort, another soldier, who was known not to be able to swim, jumped into the water but was taken under by a wave.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A third soldier jumped into the water in an attempt to save the other two, but came to shore alone and was not able to save the others, the report said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Africa Command confirmed the soldiers\u2019 disappearance Sunday and said the investigation is ongoing, adding that their focus is on the service members and their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The search effort includes ground teams, aerial assets, and maritime forces from the Moroccan Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, and other African Lion participants, the defense official said.<\/p>\n

Military assets involved include Moroccan SA-330 Puma and AS332 Super Puma helicopters, a U.S. CH-47 Chinook, Moroccan and U.S. unmanned aerial systems, a U.S. logistics support vessel, a Moroccan Navy frigate, and Moroccan mountaineers and divers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

U.S. units involved in the search for the missing soldiers include the 19th Special Forces Group, 1st Detachment, 2nd Air Support Operations Squadron, 3rd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and multiple Moroccan units.<\/p>\n

CEASEFIRE IS ONGOING DESPITE IRAN\u2019S MISSILE ATTACKS: HEGSETH<\/a><\/p>\n

The incident occurred during the last week of the training exercise, as the 2026 event is scheduled to run from April 20 to May 8. This is the 22nd year of the event, which focuses on joint all-domain operations, the service members\u2019 crisis response, and bolstering interoperability among the multinational participants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event included training such as armed live-fire exercises, international academic exercises, explosives exercises, and humanitarian support exercises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of two U.S. Army soldiers who went missing off the coast of Morocco over the weekend jumped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[63,14588,112148,36869,165],"class_list":["post-220133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-morocco","tag-africa","tag-army","tag-department-of-defense-department-of-war","tag-missing-persons","tag-morocco"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116522916753884529","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}