Two U.S. Army soldiers went missing in southwestern Morocco on Saturday night after going on a recreational hike near rugged ocean cliffs, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) said Sunday.
The soldiers disappeared at around 9 p.m. near the Cap Draa Training Area close to the coastal town of Tan Tan, according to the Moroccan military. The area features mountainous terrain, a mix of desert and semi-desert plains bordering the Atlantic Ocean.
The service members were not actively engaged in training when they vanished. “The day’s exercises had concluded, and, from our understanding, they were out on a recreational hike,” a U.S. defense official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
“The soldiers were last seen near ocean cliffs in the vicinity of the Cap Draa Training Area during scheduled training. When they did not return as expected, U.S. and Moroccan personnel immediately initiated a joint search effort,” the official added.
AFRICOM confirmed that a search and rescue operation involving the U.S., Morocco and other participating nations is now underway. The search team includes helicopters, ships, mountain rescue units and divers. “The incident remains under investigation and the search is ongoing,” AFRICOM said in a statement.
The soldiers were participating in African Lion, the largest annual U.S. joint military exercise on the African continent. Now in its 21st edition, the exercise has been held since 2004 and this year spans four countries Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal with over 7,000 personnel from more than 30 nations taking part. The exercise began in April and is scheduled to conclude in early May.
U.S. military officials have described African Lion as a key venue for strengthening regional security cooperation and sharpening the readiness of participating forces for global crises.
The incident is not the first tragedy to occur during the exercises in Morocco. In 2012, two U.S. Marines were killed and two others injured when a helicopter crashed in Agadir during African Lion.
Morocco is a major U.S. ally in a region experiencing significant political turbulence. Since 2020, military coups have toppled democratically elected governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, with the new juntas increasingly distancing themselves from Western powers.
