In an preliminary assertion, the US navy mentioned three individuals survived the strike however just one survivor was in the end recovered alive.
Revealed On 20 Mar 2026
America navy has introduced that it attacked another alleged drug trafficking vessel within the jap Pacific.
However whereas the US navy initially mentioned on Friday that three individuals survived the strike, the Coast Guard later issued a press release that two of the three have been discovered useless. Just one individual was recovered alive.
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The US Southern Command, which oversees navy actions in Latin America, wrote in a social media post that the strike had taken place the day before today.
“Intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting alongside identified narco-trafficking routes within the Japanese Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the publish alleges, providing no specifics.
“Following the engagement, USSOUTHCOM instantly notified US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors.”
An accompanying black-and-white video reveals a small boat being bombed and bursting into flames.
The information company Reuters reported that the survivor and the stays of these killed have been transferred to the Costa Rican Coast Guard.
The strike is the newest in a deadly marketing campaign concentrating on alleged drug trafficking boats off Latin America.
The marketing campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, has now killed at the least 159 people in 46 separate incidents, based on authorities bulletins in regards to the assaults.
The assaults started on September 2, 2025, and it’s uncommon for the US authorities to announce survivors.
Other than at present, the one two identified survivors got here on October 16, greater than a month into the bombing marketing campaign. The boys who survived that assault have been repatriated to their house international locations of Colombia and Ecuador, the place they have been launched with out cost.
The administration of President Donald Trump has argued that the deadly strikes are geared toward deterring drug trafficking.
However worldwide authorized students have denounced them as a marketing campaign of extrajudicial killings and warned that these concerned might face prosecution.
In December, the Trump administration got here below heavy criticism when it was revealed that the primary boat assault on September 2 left two survivors who have been subsequently killed in a double-tap strike.
Democrats have pushed for video to be launched of the double-tap strike, displaying the survivors as they clung to floating particles after the preliminary strike. However the Trump administration has to this point declined to take action.
It has additionally not produced public proof to justify the assaults, nor has it recognized these it has killed.
Some households in Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago have claimed that the victims have been fishermen or casual employees, transiting throughout the Caribbean for employment.
