Two men have been killed in the latest US airstrike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean.

Commander of US Southern Command, General Francis Donovan, announced that the strike took place on May 4, saying intelligence had identified the vessel as part of a suspected trafficking operation.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” Donovan said, repeating language used in previous announcements on similar strikes.

He said no US military personnel were harmed in the operation.

A 14-second video released by the military shows the moment of the strike at sea.

Since the operations began, more than 120 people are believed to have been killed in kinetic strikes in the Caribbean since September 2025.

Among the dead are believed to be two Trinidadian men and two St Lucian fishermen. 

Their bodies have not been recovered.

Relatives of the two Trinidadian men, Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, filed a lawsuit against the US government on January 27, 2026, alleging wrongful death and extrajudicial killing following a deadly October 2025 strike off the coast of Venezuela. 

The lawsuit contends the men were civilians and were unlawfully killed.

The U.S. government has maintained that the operations are part of wider efforts to disrupt transnational criminal networks using maritime routes across Latin America and the Caribbean.