Task & Purpose quoted a spokesperson for the Army’s Southern European Task Force, Africa, who confirmed that search and rescue operations remain ongoing. “Search patterns continue to expand west into the Atlantic as recurrent modeling refines planning.”
US Africa Command said last week that two soldiers went missing near the Cap Draa training area outside Tan-Tan, a coastal city in southwestern Morocco.
The two soldiers are believed to have been on a recreational hike and may have fallen into the ocean.
The US Army emphasized that the case of the two soldiers remains a top priority, with search operations seeing the participation of more than 600 military personnel from multiple countries to extend and expand rescue operations.
CBS News, which has a crew covering the military exercise, cited defense officials and a preliminary report, claiming that a US soldier jumped into the Atlantic Ocean to save a fellow service member who had fallen from a cliff.
The US and Moroccan militaries deployed and mobilized resources to continue search operations, including multiple aircraft, drones, divers, and vessels along the coastline. A Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was dispatched from Sigonella Naval Air Station in Italy.
Morocco’s military also sent scuba divers to search inside underwater caves characteristic of that stretch of the North African coast.
The incident is not believed to be connected to the training exercise itself.
African Lion is the largest military exercise in Africa, bringing together personnel from different countries to strengthen collective security, test rapid deployment capabilities, and improve coordination across multiple domains.
This year’s edition kicked off on April 20 and continued through May 8.
