A black-and-white video posted to X showed a speedboat being hit by a visible projectile before erupting into flames.
The U.S. military carried out another strike on a boat suspected of drug smuggling in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, killing two people instantly while leaving six others unaccounted for, as its campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America presses on.
The attack is the latest in a series now exceeding 60 strikes, pushing the total death toll from U.S. military boat strikes past 210 since the Trump administration began targeting those it designates "narcoterrorists" in early September, according to AP.
It remains unclear whether Thursday's survivors were rescued. In this instance, and following a June 16 strike that left two survivors, U.S. Southern Command said it notified the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard later suspended its search from the June 16 incident with "no signs of survivors or debris," and offered no comment on the more recent strike.
As with previous operations in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea, the military said it targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes, though it provided no evidence that the vessel was actually carrying drugs.
