Two men from Trinidad believed killed by US strike on 'narco' vessel

Family members and neighbours have identified two men from Trinidad and Tobago who are believed to be among six people killed in a US airstrike on a boat allegedly transporting drugs from Venezuela.

- Natricia Duncan Kingston Kejan Haynes Port of Spain

Without providing evidence, Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the strike in international waters had killed six “narcoterrorists”. He claimed that “intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics” and said it was “associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks”.

Trinidad police said they were still confirming whether Trinidadians were among the dead, but residents of the north coast fishing village of Las Cuevas said two local people, Chad “Charpo” Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, were on the sunken vessel.

Samaroo was released from prison in 2021 after serving time for his role in the 2009 murder of a street vendor.

Speaking with local media, Joseph’s mother, Lenore Burnley, said her 26-year-old son was not involved in drugs and lamented that the family has no body to bury. “I leave everything in God’s hand,” she said.

Burnley told AFP by phone that people her family know in Venezuela “told them he was on the boat”.