By Phil Helsel and Alexandra Bacallao - NBC News
Two U.S. Marines went missing Thursday off the coast of Somalia, U.S. Central Command said in a statement Friday.
The sailors, whose names were not released, were deployed to the U.S. Fifth Fleet area of operations, the command, known as CENTCOM, said.
"Search and rescue operations are underway to locate the two sailors," authorities said in a statement. "For operational security reasons, we will not release additional information until the personnel recovery operation is complete."
No further details were released about the missing sailors, which CENTCOM said was out of respect for their families.
The Fifth Fleet's area of operations encompasses about 2.5 million square miles of water and includes the Arabian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, according to the military's website.