U.S. strike on suspected drug-trafficking boat kills 2, leaves 1 survivor
by Darryl Coote · UPIFeb. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. military conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" targeting a boat alleged to be shipping narcotics in the eastern Pacific on Monday, killing two people and leaving one survivor, U.S. Southern Command said.
The boat with three people on board was attacked as "intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," U.S. Southern Command said in a statement.
Little information about the strike was made public by the military branch overseeing operations in the Caribbean and Central and South America. It released an 11-second black-and-white video of the operation, showing a boat speeding across the ocean when its rear engine erupts in flames. The vessel is seemingly struck a second time, causing a second explosion and leading the boat to drastically slow down.
No proof linking the vessel to a designated terrorist organization was provided.
SOUTHCOM said it notified the Coast Guard of the survivor. A Coast Guard spokesman confirmed to UPI in an emailed statement that it received the report, and that Ecuador's Maritime Rescue Coordination Center has assumed coordination of search-and-rescue operations. The U.S. Coast Guard was providing technical support, the spokesperson said.
UPI has contacted the MRCCE for comment.
Monday's attack is the third publicly acknowledged boat strike by the United States this year, with the first conducted on Jan. 23 and the second on Thursday.
At least 130 people have been killed in the 38 known strikes that the Trump administration has been conducting since Sept. 2, drawing domestic and international condemnation, criticism and allegations of extrajudicial killings.
There have been only two known survivors from the dozens of strikes. A search-and-rescue operation for a third survivor from a separate strike last week was later called off.
The operations are conducted under Joint Task Force Southern Spear, which President Donald Trump launched in the fall to intercept alleged narco-trafficking operations.
U.S. military officials say they target boats operated by one of 10 criminal groups that Trump has designated as a terrorist organization since January 2025.