Exclusive-US set to transfer Caribbean strike survivors overseas instead of POW-style detention

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration is moving to send two survivors of Thursday’s attack in the Caribbean to a different country instead of long-term military detention, four U.S. officials told Reuters on Saturday.

Reuters was unable to determine the exact nationality of the two detainees. One of the officials said it was possible one of them was Colombian, but did not provide that information with certainty.

The US military organized a helicopter rescue operation for survivors on Thursday following an attack on a semi-submersible ship suspected of smuggling illegal drugs. Two other crew members on the ship also died in the attack, sources told Reuters on Friday.

The U.S. military flew the survivors to a U.S. Navy warship in the Caribbean, where they were detained until at least Friday evening. As of Saturday morning, it was unclear whether they had flown off the ship.

U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expected the survivors to eventually be returned to their home countries. It was unclear what conditions might exist for such a transfer, including whether they would be detained.

Legal experts say the decision to send the survivors home means the U.S. military will not have to grapple with thorny legal issues surrounding military detention of suspected drug traffickers whose alleged crimes do not fully fall within the laws of war.

Speaking on Friday, Trump told reporters that the attack was against “a drug-carrying submarine that was specifically built to transport large amounts of drugs.”

He did not comment on how many people died or survived in the attack.

So far, the Pentagon has not offered any details about the attack and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Diane Craft and Nick Zieminski)