Four suspected drug ships in the Pacific/US kill 14 people

2025-10-28 21:41:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said US forces have killed 14 people in attacks on four suspected drug ships in the Pacific.

The Mexican navy says it is still searching for a lone survivor, approximately 400 miles (643 km) from the Pacific coastal city of Acapulco.

This is the latest in a series of attacks on ships that, according to the US, have been transporting drugs in both the Pacific and the Caribbean.

The latest attacks in the eastern Pacific, which Hegseth said took place Monday on the orders of President Donald Trump, mark an escalation in what he has described as a campaign to stop narcotics from entering the United States.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in her morning press conference that she disagreed with the attacks. She said she had asked the country's foreign minister, as well as representatives of the navy, to meet with the US ambassador.

"We want all international treaties to be respected," she added.

At least 57 people have been killed so far in the airstrikes, which have led to rising tensions between the US and the governments of Colombia and Venezuela. Most of the attacks have occurred off the coast of South America, in the Caribbean, but recently the US has turned its attention to the Pacific Ocean.

In a statement to X, Hegseth said the four ships that were hit on Monday "were known to our intelligence apparatus, passing along known drug trafficking routes and transporting narcotics."

He added that eight narco-terrorists were killed in the first attack. Four and three were killed in the two subsequent attacks.

According to Hegseth, Mexican search and rescue authorities have acknowledged the incident and taken responsibility for coordinating the rescue. The survivor's condition or current location are unclear. The Mexican Navy said in a statement that it had sent a patrol boat and an aircraft to conduct search operations to "protect human life at sea."

"The department has spent more than two decades defending their homeland. Now, we are defending our homeland," Hegseth said.

At least four of the attacks have taken place so far in the Pacific, which is a much more important corridor for drug trafficking, while the rest have occurred in the Caribbean./ CNA, translated by BBC