After 12 days, two Indian soldiers still untraceable in US

New Delhi, Mar 31 (UNI) Twelve days after they disappeared from a camp in the United States during a military training exercise, the two Indian soldiers were still untraceable with authorities there intensifying efforts to trace them, sources said today.

The rest of the 120 Indian soldiers who participated in the exercise have since returned home, they added.

The two Indian soldiers -- Sanjay Mahato and Santosh Thapa -- went missing on March 20, the final day of a 30-day training exercise - codenamed Shatrujit -- with the Pendleton-based 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit in California.

The US State Department has been working with local agencies to trace the soldiers, the sources said.

In military parlance, they are absent without leave (AWOL).

The Army has already ordered a court of inquiry into their disappearance.

''If the soldiers fail to turn up in the next three weeks, they will be declared deserters and thrown out of the Army,'' the sources said.

UNI AG MIR VC2035