Washington — Individuals on board two alleged drug smuggling boats jumped into the water after an initial strike on another boat on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.   

U.S. Southern Command announced Wednesday that three “narco-trafficking vessels traveling as a convoy” were struck in “international waters” a day earlier. Three people were killed when the first boat was hit, according to Southern Command. 

“The remaining narco-terrorists abandoned the other two vessels, jumping overboard and distancing themselves before follow-on engagements sank their respective vessels,” Southern Command said, adding that the U.S. Coast Guard had been notified for search-and-rescue efforts. 

In a separate statement, the Coast Guard said it was notified Tuesday about “mariners in distress in the Pacific Ocean.” 

“The U.S. Coast Guard is coordinating search-and-rescue operations with vessels in the area, and a Coast Guard C-130 aircraft is en route to provide further search coverage with the ability to drop a survival raft and supplies,” the statement said. 

As many as eight people abandoned the remaining two vessels, three U.S. officials told CBS News. One of the officials said the strikes were conducted in the eastern Pacific Ocean. 

A 46-second video of the strikes did not appear to show any survivors in the water. 

The U.S. military also said it conducted strikes Wednesday on two vessels, killing five people, Southern Command said later in the day, bringing the estimated death toll in the monthslong military campaign against alleged drug smugglers to at least 115.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and engaged in narco-trafficking. A total of five narco-terrorists were killed during these actions – three in the first vessel and two in the second,” Southern Command said.

The Trump administration’s handling of survivors has come under intense scrutiny, with some critics accusing it of committing potential war crimes after a follow-up strike on Sept. 2 killed two survivors. Two men who survived a strike in the Caribbean Sea on Oct. 16 were detained by the U.S. Navy and repatriated to their countries of origin, prompting questions about the danger the Trump administration has claimed alleged drug traffickers pose to the U.S. Strikes on Oct. 27 in the Pacific left one survivor, who has since been presumed dead.  

Members of Congress — mostly Democrats — have sought to rein in the boat strikes, which come as the Trump administration escalates pressure against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The administration has accused Maduro of drug trafficking and working with gangs designated by the U.S. as terrorist organizations, which Maduro denies.

Lawmakers have raised the alarm that the strikes, which have not been authorized by Congress, could lead to war with Venezuela and have questioned their legality.

President Trump, who has repeatedly threatened land strikes against Venezuela, said the U.S. “knocked out” a “big facility” last week linked to the alleged drug smuggling operations, but his administration has provided few details on the matter. 

“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Mr. Trump told reporters Monday in Florida. 

Many Republicans have defended the strikes, including after the administration acknowledged that two survivors of the Sept. 2 boat attack were killed in a follow-up strike. 

Both critics and defenders of the Sept. 2 follow-up strike have called for the video to be released to the public, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon has no plans to do so.

HANOI, Vietnam — A deep-sea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 began in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, reviving efforts to solve one of aviation’s greatest mysteries more than a decade after the jet vanished with 239 people on board.

Malaysia’s Transport Ministry said Wednesday that a search vessel, the Armada 86 05, arrived at a designated search area with two autonomous underwater vehicles.

The location of the search area was not disclosed in the statement. It said the vessel had prepared for the search in Fremantle Port in Western Australia.

The government did not specifically mention Ocean Infinity, the company that helmed a previous search and had long been slated to lead the new one. But the craft that the government specified by number has been widely identified by maritime and aviation websites as belonging to Ocean Infinity.

Earlier in December, the Malaysian government said that the Texas-based marine robotics firm would begin searching targeted areas of the seabed under a renewed “no-find, no-fee” agreement.

Ocean Infinity has confirmed it was resuming the search for MH370 but refused to comment further, citing the “important and sensitive nature” of the operation.

Ocean Infinity previously searched the seabed in 2018, under a similar contract but found no trace of the plane. The company has said it has since upgraded its technology and refined its analysis. Its CEO Oliver Plunkett said last year the firm was working with multiple experts and had narrowed the search zone to what it believes is the most probable crash site.

Earlier this year, Ocean Infinity briefly restarted seabed search operations in a new 15,000-square-kilometer (5,800-square-mile) area of the southern Indian Ocean after receiving approval from Malaysia, but the effort was suspended in April because of poor weather.

The Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014. Satellite data later showed the aircraft veered from its planned route and flew south toward the remote southern Indian Ocean, where investigators believe it crashed. There has never been an explanation for the course change.

A costly and protracted multinational search effort failed to locate the aircraft, though pieces of debris believed to be from the plane later washed up along the East Africa coast and on Indian Ocean islands. No main wreckage or bodies have ever been recovered.

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Nuga reported from Bangkok.