Overview
- Lance Cpl. Chukwuemeka E. Oforah, 21, was declared deceased on Feb. 10 after a 72-hour multi-service search ended without recovery.
- He was reported overboard the evening of Feb. 7 while deployed with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima.
- The search employed five U.S. Navy ships, rescue swimmers, a rigid-hull inflatable boat, six helicopters, a Navy P-8, two Air Force HC-130Js, and an MQ-9.
- Oforah was an infantry rifleman with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, who enlisted in Oct. 2023 and trained at Parris Island and Camp Lejeune.
- His death is the first publicly known U.S. casualty linked to Operation Southern Spear, a regional campaign that included the Jan. 3 capture of Nicolás Maduro.