Two US Marines disappear in the middle of a mission

US Navy ships and aircraft searched the Gulf of Aden on Monday in search of two SEAL special forces sailors, as details were released about their mission to board and take control of a ship carrying components for Iran’s medium-range ballistic missiles. was toward Somalia, a U.S. defense official said Monday.

The crew of the Gho, which was not flagged by any country, planned to transfer missile parts, including warheads and engines, to another ship off the coast of Somalia, the official said. The US The Navy recognized it as a vessel with a history of transporting illegal arms from Iran to Somalia, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not been released.

SEAL sailors from the USS Louis B. Puller, aboard an expeditionary ship, traveled in a small special operations combat ship manned by a special warfare crew to reach the ship. As they were making it out into the middle of rough seas, around 8pm (local time), one of the sailors was knocked down by the waves and his mate went out to sea to look for him. Both of them are missing.

A team in a small boat faced a dozen crew members. The detained crew members had no documents, leading to a search of the boat. Weapons were confiscated and the ship was broken up, a routine process that usually involved punching holes in the hull.

US officials have said the waters in the Gulf of Aden are warm, and that SEAL sailors are trained for such emergencies. On Monday, US Navy ships, helicopters and drones were involved in the search.

The US Navy has conducted regular missions in the region, even intercepting weapons on ships bound for Yemen’s Houthis.

Officials have said that the SEAL task force mission is not related to Operation Prosperity Guardian, an international mission to protect US and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, or to counterattacks by the United States and Great Britain. Britain is committed to Yemen. last two days