Coast Guard paints grim picture of search for Dec. 30 boat strike survivors

The U.S. Coast Guard painted a grim picture on Friday of its ongoing search for the survivors of a Dec. 30 strike on an alleged drug-trafficking convoy in the Pacific Ocean that the military said killed at least three people.
The Coast Guard said on Friday that it is coordinating the search with multiple vessels, including those from partner nations and commercial fishing boats in the water about 400 nautical miles southwest of Mexico’s border with Guatemala, covering an area spanning over 1,000 nautical miles. 
“Weather reported in the area was nine-foot seas, and 40-knot winds,” it said in a statement shared with The Hill.
The Coast Guard dispatched its HC-130J Super Hercules, a surveillance aircraft with long-range maritime patrol capability, from Sacramento to search the area and sent out an urgent “marine information broadcast” to mariners in the region. 
As of Friday, the Coast Guard said it had spent over 65 hours in its search efforts for the survivors, who jumped into the water after the U.S. military struck the first of the three alleged drug-smuggling vessels on Tuesday. 

It is unclear how many people may have survived the Tuesday attack. 
The U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) said the U.S. military conducted strikes against an alleged drug-smuggling convoy operated by a designated terrorist organization. It is unclear which terrorist group the U.S. military was referring to. 
After the strikes, the people on the second and third boats jumped into the water and distanced themselves before additional strikes sank their respective vessels, Southcom said on Wednesday. 
After the strikes, the U.S. military notified the Coast Guard to activate its search and rescue system, according to Southcom. 
“Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes,” Southcom wrote on social media. 
The Tuesday mission marks at least the fourth time that alleged drug-traffickers have survived initial attacks by the U.S. military, which so far has conducted a minimum of 35 strikes and killed at least 115 “narco-terrorists.” The attacks have taken place in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, part of what the administration argues is an effort to curb the flow of narcotics in the region and protect the country. 

On Sept. 2, the U.S. military struck a purported drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean, initially killing nine “narco-terrorists.” Adm. Frank Bradley, who oversaw the controversial operation, greenlighted a follow-up strike that killed the two remaining survivors. The U.S. forces then conducted a third and fourth strike, sinking the vessel.
After the U.S. military struck four alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific later that month, one man was spotted clinging to the wreckage of a boat. The U.S. personnel notified the Mexican Navy. It is unclear if the individual survived. 
The U.S. military hit a semisubmersible in the Caribbean Sea in October. Two men were rescued and eventually repatriated to Colombia and Ecuador. 

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