The U.S. military on Thursday reported two recent incidents related to ongoing operations in the Caribbean Sea: a Marine fatality and a collision between two Navy ships.
A search effort was launched Saturday after Lance Cpl. Chukwuemeka E. Oforah, 21, of Florida, fell from the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship. The Marine Corps said in a statement that five Navy ships, 10 aircraft, and a U.S. Air Force Reaper drone participated in a continuous 72-hour search. He was declared dead on Tuesday.
Oforah is the first publicly identified service member to die during a military deployment in the region. The Trump administration has established one of the largest U.S. military presences in the Caribbean in decades, conducting operations that include strikes on alleged drug trafficking vessels, seizure of sanctioned oil tankers, and a raid last month that resulted in the capture of Venezuela’s then-president Nicolás Maduro.
In a separate incident, U.S. Southern Command said the Navy destroyer USS Truxtun and the supply ship USNS Supply collided Thursday during a replenishment operation. Two sailors sustained minor injuries and were in stable condition, according to the military. Both ships continued operating safely.
The collision occurred while the supply ship was refueling the cruiser USS Gettysburg on one side and the USS Truxtun was approaching on the other side, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident is under investigation.
The USS Truxtun had departed from Norfolk, Virginia, on Feb. 3 but returned briefly for equipment repairs before sailing to the Caribbean on Feb. 6, a Navy official confirmed.
As of this week, the U.S. Navy’s presence in the Caribbean included 12 ships, among them the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and three amphibious assault ships, including the Iwo Jima.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report the collision, which the Navy noted was a rare occurrence. The most recent comparable incident occurred in February 2025 when the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with a merchant ship near the Suez Canal, resulting in minor damage and no injuries.
A December investigation found that the Truman was behind schedule, and the officer navigating the ship sailed at a speed too high to safely stop in time to avoid a collision.
