Coast Guard searches for survivors of US attacks on suspected drug trafficking ships
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday it is still searching for people in the eastern Pacific Ocean who had jumped from suspected drug smuggling vessels when the U.S. military attacked the vessels days earlier, decreasing the likelihood that anyone would survive.
Search efforts began Tuesday afternoon after the military notified the Coast Guard that there were survivors in the water about 400 miles (650 kilometers) southwest of the Mexico-Guatemala border, the maritime service said in a statement.
The Coast Guard sent a plane from Sacramento to search an area spanning more than 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles), while issuing an urgent warning to nearby ships. The agency said it coordinated more than 65 hours of search efforts, working with other countries as well as civilian ships and vessels in the area.
The weather during that time included 9-foot seas and 40-knot winds. The United States has not said how many people jumped into the water and, if they are not found, how much the death toll may rise due to the Trump administration’s months-long campaign of blowing up small boats accused of transporting drugs in the region.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS via Getty Images
The US military said earlier this week that it attacked three vessels traveling along known drug trafficking routes and that “narcotics had been transferred between the three vessels prior to the attacks.” The military provided no evidence to support the claim.
The US Southern Command, which oversees the region, said three people were killed when the first ship was hit, while people on the other two ships jumped overboard and distanced themselves from the ships before they were attacked.
The attacks occurred in a part of the eastern Pacific where the Navy has no ships operating. Southern Command said it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts for the people who jumped overboard before the other ships were hit.
Calling in the Coast Guard is notable because the military came under intense scrutiny after U.S. forces killed survivors of the first attack in early September with a follow-up attack on their disabled ship. Some Democratic lawmakers and legal experts said the military committed a crime, while the Trump administration and some Republican lawmakers say the follow-up attack was legal.
On December 30, under the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted kinetic attacks against three drug trafficking vessels traveling as a convoy. These vessels were operated by designated terrorist organizations in international waters. Intelligence… pic.twitter.com/NHRNIzcrFS
– US Southern Command (@Southcom) December 31, 2025
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On December 30, under the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted kinetic attacks against three drug trafficking vessels traveling as a convoy. These vessels were operated by designated terrorist organizations in international waters. Intelligence… pic.twitter.com/NHRNIzcrFS
– US Southern Command (@Southcom) December 31, 2025
There have been other survivors of ship strikes, including one whose search the Mexican Navy suspended in late October after four days. Two other survivors of an attack on a submersible vessel in the Caribbean Sea that same month were sent to their countries of origin: Ecuador and Colombia. Ecuadorian authorities later released the man, saying they had no evidence he had committed a crime in the South American nation.
Under the direction of President Donald Trump, the US military has been attacking ships in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific since early September. As of Friday, the number of known vessel collisions is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115, according to figures announced by the Trump administration.
Trump has justified the attacks on the ships as a necessary escalation to stop the flow of drugs into the United States and claimed that the United States is involved in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
Along with the attacks, the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of a growing pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been accused of narcoterrorism in the United States.