A service member remains missing after a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the coast of Yemen during what officials described as a training exercise.
U.S. forces rescued five other troops who also went down in the crash and are still searching for the sixth service member, . The incident took place about 20 miles from the southeastern coast of Yemen around 7 p.m. local time Friday.
Officials said they would begin an investigation.
A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed while the crew was training off the southern coast of Yemen
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM)
CENTCOM didn't provide the identities of any of the service members involved, nor any details concerning why the accident happened. Spokesman Col. John Thomas, however, , "when the incident took place the helicopter was not very high above the water."
The U.S. is waging a campaign against an arm of the al-Qaida terrorist group that has secured, , a "heavy" presence in Yemen. U.S. forces have launched more than 80 airstrikes in the region since late February.
The Trump administration's efforts to combat al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula . A raid at the end of January that killed 14 al-Qaida militants, 23 civilians and one American Navy SEAL, was deemed a "failure" by Sen. John McCain and defended as a "winning mission" by President Trump.
, Yemen is in the midst of a brutal civil war that, by the United Nations' count, has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people. The country is also facing a cholera outbreak, which Save the Children estimates has produced .
Friday's crash comes days after the U.S. Coast Guard for five Army service members missing after one of two Black Hawk helicopters taking part in a training exercise went down off Hawaii.
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