Attack on alleged drug vessel leaves 3 survivors in eastern Pacific, US military says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Friday that it attacked an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, leaving three survivors, as part of the Trump administration’s campaign against alleged traffickers.

U.S. Southern Command, which oversees much of Latin America, said in a post on X that it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate the search and rescue system for the survivors.

The post did not state that the survivors have been rescued or whether anyone had been killed in the strike.

At least 157 people have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in small vessels in early September.

As with most of the military’s statements on the more than 40 known strikes in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. It posted a video on X that showed a vessel erupting into flames as it cruised through the water.

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”

Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.