Lance Cpl. Chukwuemeka E. Oforah, 21, was declared dead Tuesday after an extensive, “nonstop” three-day search after he fell off the USS Iwo Jima in the Caribbean, II Marine Expeditionary Force officials announced.

“We are all grieving alongside the Oforah family,” said Col. Tom Trimble, commanding officer of the special ops 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit [MEU].

“The loss of Lance Cpl. Oforah is deeply felt across the entire Navy-Marine Corps team. He will be profoundly missed, and his dedicated service will not be forgotten.”

A man overboard was declared late Feb. 7, with the search including five US Navy ships, a rigid-hull inflatable boat and ten aircraft from the Marines, Navy and Air Force and satellites, officials said.

The incident remains under investigation.

Oforah, an infantry rifleman from Florida, enlisted in the Marine Corps in Oct. 2023 and graduated from Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, in Feb. 2024.

He was deployed in the Caribbean on the USS Iwo Jima, an 840-foot-long assault ship, when Trump ordered dozens of warships to mobilize there last year.

When ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured by the US last month, he was transported by helicopter to the USS Iwo where he was photographed in a sweatsuit while handcuffed and blindfolded.

He was later transported to the US, where he is being held in a New York City prison.