Mexico navy says rescued 28 teens from boat off west coast; US strikes four 'drug boats' in eastern Pacific

Mexico navy says rescued 28 teens from boat off west coast; US strikes four 'drug boats' in eastern Pacific
by AFP Staff Writers
Mexico City (AFP) Oct 30, 2025

Mexico's navy on Thursday rescued 28 teenagers from a boat in the Pacific Ocean off its west coast, authorities said.

The Sinaloa Attorney General's Office said the boat had set out from southern Mexico, near the border with Guatemala, with 27 passengers aged 14 to 17, and an 18-year-old.

Their nationalities were not stated.

The border between Mexico and Guatemala is a key crossing point in the migrant route north from South and Central America to the United States.

The attorney general's office said the teenagers had been handed over to the Mexican child welfare system "to provide them with comprehensive care and protection while their legal situation is determined."

It added no one had been arrested but did not say where the youngsters were headed, or why they were on the boat.

Hegseth announces strikes on four drug-smuggling boats in eastern Pacific
Washington DC (UPI) Oct 28, 2025 - The U.S. military carried out strikes against four vessels in the Eastern Pacific, killing 14 people who were allegedly carrying drugs in known narco-trafficking routes, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced.

The four vessels were targeted in international waters with three "lethal kinetic strikes" as the weekslong assault on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean have now spread to the United States' west coast.

"The department has spent over two decades defending other homelands -- now, we're defending our own," Hegseth said in a post on X that included video of the strikes.

"These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same," he said. "We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them."

The four vessels were known by U.S. intelligence to have been operated by designated terrorist organizations, he noted.

In the three strikes, eight men aboard two vessels were killed in the first strike, four men on a third vessel were killed in the second strike and three men were killed in a fourth vessel in the third strike.

In addition to the 14 alleged "narco-terrorists" who were killed in the strikes, Hegseth said there was one survivor, with U.S. Southern Command initiating search and rescue operations and handing them off to Mexican authorities.

Since Sept. 2, the United States has carried out at least 10 attacks on alleged drug smuggling boats off the coast of Venezuela, killing at least 43 people.

The strikes are part the Trump administration's effort against an alleged drug-smuggling operation run by the country's government and a criminal organization there called Tren de Aragua.