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US Navy says American sailor missing in Arabian Sea
WASHINGTON, July 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The US Navy announced on Thursday
that it was searching for a US sailor who may have gone overboard from the
USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.
The sailor, whose identity was not released, was reported missing on
Wednesday “after a reported man overboard incident,” the Bahrain-based Fifth
Fleet said in a statement.
Ships from Spain and Pakistan together with the US are looking for the
sailor, it said.
The incident came as Iran on Thursday said it had detained a “foreign
tanker” and its 12-person crew for allegedly smuggling fuel amid a tense
standoff between Tehran and the US and its allies in the Gulf.
Washington is seeking to form an international coalition to escort merchant
ships in the region, and US Central Command chief Kenneth McKenzie pledged to
work “aggressively” to ensure freedom of navigation in the highly sensitive
waters through which much of the world’s crude oil travels.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0912 hrs