Coast Guard halts search for suspected smugglers after U.S. strike

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The U.S. Coast Guard said precocious Friday it has called disconnected a dayslong hunt for respective radical successful the Eastern Pacific who jumped overboard erstwhile their alleged drug-trafficking boats were targeted by the U.S. military.

The subject says it struck a radical of 3 boats connected Tuesday — portion of a monthslong run of airstrikes that the Trump medication says are targeting Latin American cause cartels astatine sea. But aft the archetypal vessel was struck, sidesplitting three, arsenic galore arsenic 8 radical aboard the different 2 boats abandoned their vessels, U.S. officials told CBS News earlier this week.

The Coast Guard said successful a connection that the radical were reported missing astir 400 nautical miles disconnected the Mexico-Guatemala border. The hunt lasted astir 65 hours and covered an country of water that spanned much than 1,090 nautical miles, but aggregate hunt boats did not spot immoderate "survivors oregon debris," according to the Coast Guard.

"At this signifier of the response, the likelihood of a palmy outcome, based connected elapsed time, biology conditions, and disposable resources for a idiosyncratic successful the h2o is precise low," Coast Guard Capt. Patrick Dill said successful the statement.

The hunt was carried out by a Coast Guard level that took disconnected from California, a vas successful the country that belonged to the Coast Guard's exigency assistance strategy and 3 different adjacent vessels that were asked to help. The Coast Guard said successful its connection that "available assets were highly constricted owed to region and scope constraints."

A Coast Guard spokesperson told CBS News earlier Friday that 40-knot winds and nine-foot seas were reported successful the area.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro — who has clashed with the Trump medication successful caller months — wrote connected X Friday that the radical appeared to past the strikes. He said the Colombian Navy was consenting to assist.

The U.S. subject has conducted astatine slightest 35 vessel strikes successful the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific betwixt Sept. 2 and Dec. 31, sidesplitting astatine slightest 115 people.

The subject has reported survivors successful a fistful of vessel strikes — and has faced dense scrutiny for its handling of those cases. Two survivors from a mid-October onslaught were detained by the U.S. Navy and past repatriated to Colombia and Ecuador. One subsister from a precocious October cognition is presumed dormant aft the Mexican Navy called disconnected a search for the person.

And successful the Trump administration's archetypal acceptable of vessel strikes connected Sept. 2, 2 radical survived the archetypal attack but were killed successful a follow-on strike. Congressional Democrats who viewed a video of the cognition criticized the 2nd strike, alleging the subject killed shipwrecked radical who nary longer posed a threat, but GOP lawmakers person called the onslaught justifiable, arguing the survivors appeared to inactive beryllium successful the fight.

The vessel strikes are portion of a broader subject buildup successful the region, amid a increasing U.S. unit run against the authorities of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The Trump medication has accused Maduro's authorities of moving with cause cartels, which it denies.

The operations person drawn disapproval from lawmakers who reason the president is operating without support from Congress. The Trump medication has defended the strikes arsenic necessary to combat cause trafficking, calling the targets "unlawful combatants."

Caitlin Yilek and Nicole Sganga contributed to this report.