Coast Guard
Coast Guard suspends search for reported survivors from US strikes on suspected drug boats
Stars and Stripes
January 4, 2026
A screengrab from a video posted by U.S. Southern Command on X, showing a convoy of three alleged drug boats that were destroyed by the command on Tuesday as part of Operation Southern Spear. (U.S. Southern Command via X)
The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended a search for possible survivors of U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats in the eastern Pacific about 400 nautical miles from the Mexico/Guatemala border.
“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 for the Southwest District, said in a service news release. The search was suspended Friday.
The strikes, which happened on Tuesday, were against three alleged drug boats traveling as a convoy in international waters. An unspecified number jumped into the water when the first of three boats was hit, according to U.S. Southern Command. The command “immediately” notified the Coast Guard to commence a search and rescue after the strikes.
The call for Coast Guard assistance comes after the Pentagon faced scrutiny by lawmakers for a follow-up strike in September that killed two survivors of an initial attack.
The Coast Guard coordinated more than 65 hours of search efforts, including automated rescue vessels (Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue) in the region. A U.S. Coast Guard HC-130J launched from Sacramento, covering more than 1,090 nautical miles with no sightings of survivors or debris.
Three additional vessels in the area were asked to assist in the search, all reporting negative results.
“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,” Dill said.
The Pentagon’s campaign against suspected drug traffickers in 2025, led by U.S. Southern Command, resulted in 35 known strikes that killed at least 115 since it began in early September.