Two men who survived a US airstrike on a suspected drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean clung to the wreckage for an hour before they were killed in a second attack, according to a video of the episode shown to senators in Washington.

The men were shirtless, unarmed and carried no visible radio or other communications equipment. They also appeared to have no idea what had just hit them, or that the US military was weighing whether to finish them off, two sources familiar with the recording told Reuters.

The pair desperately tried to turn a severed section of the hull upright before they died. “The video follows them for about an hour as they tried to flip the boat back over. They couldn’t do it,” one source said.

    • tonyn@lemmy.ml
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      15 minutes ago

      That’s the neat part of sending all the evidence to the bottom of the ocean.

    • Tinidril@midwest.social
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      40 minutes ago

      From a legal perspective, there was no trial and therefore no conviction so we must presume innocence.

      From a rational perspective, none of these boats are remotely capable of reaching America across open ocean. They would have to refuel multiple times to do so, and still probably couldn’t make it. That’s just one of many reasons why the accusation is ridiculous.

    • smeenz@lemmy.nz
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      2 hours ago

      Even if they were, nothing makes it acceptable to just be summarily executed by a foreign military.