US Coast Guard searches for survivors of boat strikes as odds diminish days later
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday it is still searching for suspicious individuals in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Jumped off boats allegedly involved in drug smuggling The U.S. military had attacked the ships days earlier, reducing the likelihood of any of them surviving.
The search began Tuesday afternoon after the military notified the Coast Guard that survivors were in the water about 400 miles (650 kilometers) southwest of the border between Mexico and Guatemala, the maritime service said in a statement.
The Coast Guard sent an aircraft from Sacramento to search an area covering more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) 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 boats in the region.
The weather at the time included 30-foot seas and 40-knot winds. The U.S. did not say how many people jumped into the water and how much the death toll could have risen if they were not found compared to the Trump administration’s months-long response. campaign to blow up small boats He is accused of carrying drugs to the area.
The US military said earlier this week that it attacked three boats traveling along known drug smuggling routes and that they “transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the attack.” The military did not provide evidence to support the claim.
The US Southern Command, which supervised the region, said that 3 people died as a result of the first boat being hit, and the people on the other two boats jumped into the sea and walked away from the ships before being attacked.
The attacks occurred in the eastern Pacific, where the Navy does not have any operating ships. Southern Command said the US Coast Guard was immediately notified to initiate search and rescue efforts for people who jumped into the sea before hitting other boats.
The Coast Guard call-up is notable because the military has come under intense scrutiny in the wake of U.S. forces Killed survivors of the first attack in early September with a follow-up attack on their disabled boat. Some Democratic lawmakers and legal experts said The army committed a crime; The Trump administration and some Republican lawmakers say the subsequent attack was legal.
There were also survivors of boat attacks; one of them was the Mexican Navy. suspended the call four days later in late October. Two more strike survivors That same month, they were sent back to their home countries, Ecuador and Colombia, on a diving ship in the Caribbean Sea. Later authorities in Ecuador released the manHe said they had no evidence of a crime in the South American country.
Under the direction of President Donald Trump, the US military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific since early September. According to figures released by the Trump administration, the number of known boat attacks as of Friday is 35, and the number of deaths is at least 115.
Trump has justified boat attacks He stated that escalation was necessary to stop the flow of drugs into the United States and suggested that the United States was engaged in a terrorist attack. “Gunfight” with drug cartels.
In addition to the strikes, the Trump administration has deployed military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign against the Venezuelan President. Nicolas MaduroPerson accused of narco-terrorism in the USA.
