A US military strike on a boat said to be carrying drugs from Venezuela has left two survivors, now believed to be held on a US Navy ship.

The attack happened on Thursday and is the sixth strike on Venezuelan vessels in recent weeks. It is the first time survivors have been reported.

President Donald Trump confirmed the operation, calling the target a “drug-carrying submarine.” He said it was designed to transport huge amounts of drugs and defended the attack. “This was not an innocent group of people,” he told reporters.

The two survivors were picked up by a US helicopter and taken aboard a warship, according to unnamed officials, though the government has not confirmed it officially.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the operations were aimed at “narco-terrorists” but declined to discuss the survivors. The US has not released details about the groups involved.

UN human rights experts have called the US actions “extrajudicial executions.” Venezuela and neighboring Trinidad and Tobago say some victims were local fishermen. Venezuela’s UN Ambassador Samuel Moncada accused the US of killing innocent people and urged the UN Security Council to step in, calling Trump “a killer prowling the Caribbean.”

President Nicolás Maduro, whose rule is disputed internationally, appealed for peace but warned that the growing US military presence — with about 10,000 troops in the Caribbean and aircraft like B-52 bombers overhead — could signal a larger attack.

Trump said he has also authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.

So-called “narco-subs,” often handmade from fiberglass and plywood, have become a common way to move cocaine undetected. Some can carry up to three tonnes of drugs and are usually sunk after delivery.

Source: BBC.