Canadian Navy sailor on helicopter
© Simon Maina/AFP/Getty ImagesA Canadian Navy sailor on board a helicopter patrols the waters off the coast of Somalia as they escort a World Food Program ship on Sept. 17, 2008, providing an anti-pirate escort for the ship taking food aid to Somalia.
Two US Navy sailors were reported missing at sea while conducting operations off the coast of Somalia on Thursday evening, the US military said in a statement on Friday, adding that search and rescue operations were ongoing to locate them.

"The sailors were forward-deployed to the US 5th Fleet (C5F) area of operations supporting a wide variety of missions," the US Central Command said. The statement added that additional information would not be made available until the personnel recovery operation was complete.