A U.S. military strike on a drug-smuggling vessel has left survivors, according to the Pentagon.
Details about the location of the strike were not released.
The Thursday attack left two or three survivors, according to Fox News, which quoted a source it did not name.
Fox called the vessel a “submersible,” but did not elaborate. It quoted its source as saying the partially submerged ship was “big” and operated in international waters.
The official said U.S. forces launched rescue efforts, but there was no information on whether any survivors were rescued or the extent of their injuries.
🇻🇪🇺🇸 U.S. STRIKE SINKS SUSPECTED DRUG BOAT NEAR VENEZUELA – SURVIVORS REPORTED
For the first time in its covert Caribbean campaign, a U.S. strike on a suspected Venezuelan drug vessel left 2 or 3 survivors.
Their condition? Unknown. Their capture? Unconfirmed.
This marks the… https://t.co/pPn9CHMcDG pic.twitter.com/p4MLeJJfNW
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 17, 2025
The Thursday drone strike on a vessel is the first of six reported attacks in which there were survivors.
The campaign of attacks is part of President Donald Trump’s war on international drug cartels.
“When they’re loaded up with drugs, they’re fair game, and every one of those ships were,” Trump said Wednesday, according to CBS.
Earlier this morning, on President Trump’s orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the… pic.twitter.com/QpNPljFcGn
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 3, 2025
Do you support the Trump administration’s targeting of drug vessels?
The attack comes as the Pentagon has shifted responsibility for its fight against drug smuggling in the region away from U.S. Southern Command, according to Reuters.
Instead, a task force led by II Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina will take the lead.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth then said Admiral Alvin Holsey, who leads U.S. Southern Command, will resign at the end of the year, two years ahead of his scheduled departure.
Unusual vessels have been apprehended in the past by counter-narcotics efforts by the military.
In March 2024, the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf came upon a semi-submersible vessel carrying about 2,370 kilograms of cocaine in the Caribbean, according to the Navy
The vessel was sunk, and the crew was detained.
In August 2024, U.S. Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Detachment 111 and British forces aboard the HMS Trent stopped a semi-submersible drug smuggling vessel with 1,239 pounds of narcotics, according to U.S. Southern Command.
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