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Coast Guard suspends search for survivors days after narco-terrorist strikes in Eastern Pacific
By Alexandra Koch, James Levinson, James Levinson
Published January 03, 2026
The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search late Friday for survivors after U.S. military strikes Tuesday targeting three suspected narco-trafficking vessels traveling as a convoy in the Eastern Pacific.
The ships, allegedly operated by designated terrorist organizations, were traveling in international waters and allegedly transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes.
Three narco-terrorists were reportedly killed aboard the first vessel, while those on the remaining two abandoned ship before follow-on engagements sank the vessels.
USSOUTHCOM announced another kinetic strike against alleged naro-terrorist vessels Wednesday. (@Southcom via X)
US MILITARY DESTROYS NARCO-TERROR CONVOY OF THREE VESSELS AT SEA IN KINETIC STRIKES
It is unclear how many survivors escaped the vessels.
Despite extensive coordination with international rescue coordination centers, Department of War partners, and Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER) system vessels, the Coast Guard said available assets were "extremely limited due to distance and range constraints."
A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson told Fox News that officials began coordinating search efforts at about 3 p.m. Tuesday after receiving notification from the Department of War of people in the water approximately 400 nautical miles southwest of the Mexico and Guatemala border.
A Coast Guard HC-130J plane was deployed from Sacramento, Calif., to search for potential survivors. (U.S. Coast Guard)
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A HC-130J aircraft was deployed from Sacramento, California, and searched more than 1,090 nautical miles under favorable visual conditions with no sightings of survivors or debris, officials said.
The Coast Guard also issued an urgent marine information broadcast to mariners in the area, and three additional vessels assisted in the search, all reporting negative results.
Video shows a kinetic strike on a narco-terror vessel in international waters Wednesday. (U.S. Southern Command via X)
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As of Friday, the Coast Guard has coordinated more than 65 hours of search efforts, including working with partner nations and commercial fishing and Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER) system vessels.
"Suspending a search is never easy and given the exhaustive search effort, lack of positive indications and declining probability of survival, we have suspended active search efforts pending further developments," U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Patrick Dill, chief of incident management in the southwest district, wrote in a statement. "At this stage of the response, the likelihood of a successful outcome, based on elapsed time, environmental conditions, and available resources for a person in the water is very low."
On Wednesday, five suspected narco-terrorists were killed in a U.S. military strike against two vessels allegedly operated by designated terrorist organizations involved in narcotics trafficking.
Fox News Digital's Jasmine Baehr contributed to this story.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/coast-guard-searches-survivors-us-strikes-suspected-narco-terrorist-vessels-eastern-pacific