US attack on alleged drug-smuggling boat leaves 2 dead, 1 survivor in eastern Pacific

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. military attack on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean has left one survivor and two people dead, U.S. officials said Friday, as the Trump administration pursues its campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America.

U.S. Southern Command said in a post on X that it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate a search for three people who survived the strike. The Coast Guard said in a statement that one of its ships recovered two dead bodies and one survivor, and transferred them to the Costa Rican Coast Guard.

The latest attack brings the number of people who've been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 159 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” 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.