A US military attack on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean has left one survivor and two people dead, US officials have said.
The US Southern Command immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate a search for three people who survived the strike.
The Coast Guard said in a statement that one of its ships recovered two dead bodies and one survivor, and transferred them to the Costa Rican Coast Guard.
The latest attack brings the number of people who've been killed in boat strikes by the US military to at least 159 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls "narcoterrorists" in early September.
US Southern Command said it targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes, but did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs.
Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the US over land from Mexico.
