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The U.S. military has identified the Marine who was lost at sea off the coast of Southern California as Lance Cpl. Armando Ortiz Canseco, 21, of Minnesota.
Ortiz Canseco was declared deceased on Saturday after he was reported missing from amphibious transport dock ship USS Anchorage Thursday, “prompting an extensive search and rescue operation,” according to a Monday press release from the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
The Navy did not release additional details about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, which is under investigation.
“The loss of Lance Cpl. Ortiz Canseco is felt deeply across our entire Navy-Marine Corps team,” Capt. Gary Harrington, the commodore of Amphibious Squadron 7, said in the release. “The amphibious Navy exists to fight alongside the Marine Corps, and a loss to the Marine Corps family is a loss to our own.”
Ortiz Canseco enlisted in the Marine Corps in April 2023, when he reported for training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, followed by the School of Infantry – West. He became a 0311 Rifleman and was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, at Camp Pendleton, Calif., before transferring to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.
Most recently, he was temporarily assigned aboard Anchorage in preparation for integrated training between the 13th MEU and Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, according to the release.
Ortiz Canseco was reported missing early Thursday morning, with a subsequent search involving Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Air Force personnel. Crews have searched approximately 2,400 square miles using three ships and 12 aircraft, according to military officials.
After more than 40 hours of searching, the military transitioned from a search-and-rescue mission to a search-and-recovery operation as of Friday night.
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