Two U.S. Navy Seals Missing by Emma Schoonmaker
Two navy seals are missing somewhere along the Gulf of Aden, near Somalia. They have been missing since Thursday, January 11. The crew was on a dangerous nighttime mission to mount a small fishing/cargo vessel, called a dhow. Dhows are rumored to hold Iranian-made equipment and weapons for the Houthis, militants in Yemen; likewise, the crew was looking for illegal goods, like weapons or drugs. Usually, the navy seals who are tasked with mounting the dhow first complete a flag verification; this is when they check to see if the dhow has no flag or if the Houthi have replaced the flag to conceal their expedition. This specific dhow did not have identification, so it required further search. The U.S. has not attempted this mission yet and only began because the Houthis started to attack merchant shipping in the Red Sea by going through with 30 drone and missile attacks. Most of these attacks were fended off by U.S., French, and British warships.
The Seals were boarding a dhow to complete their mission and everything was going according to plan, but then one of the Seals fell into the water. The Seal was climbing down a ladder but slipped. The defense officials later said that the seas were aggressive that night. The protocol for all Navy Seals is that if one of them goes overboard, someone has to dive in after them to attempt to save them, so another Seal jumped in to rescue the first and vanished into the murky waters. The strong currents swept them away. Search and rescues have made an effort to find both of the Seals, by sea and by air in the Arabian Sea. The mission may have thrown the resupply of weapons for the Houthi into disarray, but it was not worth it because we lost two of our Navy Seals.
Neither of the Seals have been publicly identified yet because the U.S. Central Command said, “For operational security purposes, we will not release additional information until the personnel recovery operation is complete. Out of respect for the families affected, we will not release further information on the missing personnel at this time.”
The Seals were boarding a dhow to complete their mission and everything was going according to plan, but then one of the Seals fell into the water. The Seal was climbing down a ladder but slipped. The defense officials later said that the seas were aggressive that night. The protocol for all Navy Seals is that if one of them goes overboard, someone has to dive in after them to attempt to save them, so another Seal jumped in to rescue the first and vanished into the murky waters. The strong currents swept them away. Search and rescues have made an effort to find both of the Seals, by sea and by air in the Arabian Sea. The mission may have thrown the resupply of weapons for the Houthi into disarray, but it was not worth it because we lost two of our Navy Seals.
Neither of the Seals have been publicly identified yet because the U.S. Central Command said, “For operational security purposes, we will not release additional information until the personnel recovery operation is complete. Out of respect for the families affected, we will not release further information on the missing personnel at this time.”