Two U.S. Army soldiers are missing in southwestern Morocco after a recreational hike went awry during the multinational African Lion exercise, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and a U.S. defense official said Sunday. The soldiers were not participating in active training at the time and were last seen near ocean cliffs in the vicinity of the Cap Draa Training Area near Tan Tan, close to the Atlantic coast.
“They were not actively taking part in any training. The day’s exercises had concluded, and, from our understanding, they were out on a recreational hike,” the defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Moroccan military said the incident occurred Saturday at about 9 p.m. in a region of mountainous desert and semidesert plains. When the soldiers did not return as expected, U.S. and Moroccan personnel immediately initiated a joint search effort, the defense official added. The operation includes helicopters, ships, mountain rescue units and divers, according to the official.
AFRICOM confirmed that the incident remains under investigation and that the search is ongoing, with assistance from Morocco and other countries participating in the African Lion exercise. “The U.S., Morocco and other countries participating in the African Lion exercise have launched a search and rescue operation,” the command said in a statement.
African Lion, which has run annually since 2004, is the largest U.S. joint military exercise on the African continent. More than 7,000 personnel from over 30 nations are taking part this year across four host countries: Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal. The exercise began in April and is scheduled to conclude in early May. U.S. military officials have described the engagement as a venue for strengthening regional security cooperation and refining the readiness of participating forces for global crises.
The exercise has seen fatal incidents before. In 2012, two U.S. Marines were killed and two others injured in a helicopter crash near Agadir, in southern Morocco, while participating in African Lion.
Morocco is a major U.S. ally in a restive region. Since 2020, military officers disillusioned with their governments’ records of stemming violence have overthrown democratically elected governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and the new juntas have increasingly distanced themselves from Western powers.