Washington: The United States Central Command said in a statement that two US Navy sailors were missing off the coast of Somalia.

“On the evening of January 11, two U.S. Navy Sailors were reported missing at sea while conducting operations off the coast of Somalia. Search and rescue operations are currently ongoing to locate the two sailors,” the statement said.

It said that for operational security purposes, additional information will not be released 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 sailors were forward-deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet (C5F) area of operations supporting a wide variety of missions,” the US Central Command said.