Hernán Flores says he remembers the shock he felt when a sudden blast shook his fishing boat in the Pacific Ocean.
“I heard an explosion. Boom! It was so loud that my ears were ringing. At that moment, I felt the blood draining out of me,” he recalled.
Flores, who was one of two Ecuadorian fishing boats captain, claims the ship sank in March after an unknown attack by a small rotor drone loaded with explosives fired by armed foreigners.
U.S. interest in the incident has grown, with the Washington Post reporting this week that the strike was part of a secret CIA program, although CNN has not been able to independently verify this claim. A CIA spokesperson told CNN: “We have no guidance we can provide on this.”
CNN spoke to several fishermen about their experiences and what happened next. This is a story through their eyes.
Although the two fishermen were attacked separately, they reported nearly identical experiences.
A few days after their respective fishing trips, they both said they spotted a mysterious blue boat and drone following them from a distance. At the time, they said they had no reason to believe they were being targeted and continued their work.
A day or two later, they said their boat was suddenly attacked.
Without warning, a pair of drones dropped explosives or rammed boats, hitting La Negra Francisca Duarte II on March 17 and Don Maca on March 26, fishermen said.
They described the drone as relatively small, roughly the size of a pillow, with rotors at each corner and a tube hanging from the center from which the explosives are believed to have been dropped.
The first drone appeared to explode after hitting La Negra Francisca’s gas tank, and the second drone appeared to have dropped an explosive, the crew said.
Hernán Flores, the boat’s captain and crew of 16, said one of the drones hit the boat, seriously injuring the leg of his nephew Jordyn.
Flames from one explosion also burned the upper half of another crew member’s back, said Jorge Chiriboga Davalos, a lawyer for the crew, who shared photos of the injuries.
In the attack on Don Maka a few days later, one of the 20 crew members said he was thrown into the air by the initial explosion.
“I went flying and hit a diesel tank that was sitting there,” recalled Jaime Rubén Cervantes Macias. “People were shouting, ‘Drone, drone, drone!'” So I jumped up and looked, and it was a drone firing at us and dropping bombs. ”
Crew member John Sebastian Palacios said the explosion was so loud it damaged his hearing. Another fisherman said he was injured in his left eye and lost most of his vision in the attack.
At one point, both crews said they spotted another gray aircraft monitoring the situation from above. Hernán Flores described it as a “mini-plane” with long wings. His sketches depicted an aircraft with a bulbous nose that tapered toward the fuselage.
Flight data suggested the area near the boat’s last recorded location was patrolled by an aircraft registered to a company whose address is listed as a private mailbox for a United Parcel Service store in Richmond, Virginia, according to public records first reported by The New York Times and later reviewed by CNN.
After the purported attack, both groups abandoned their damaged ships, boarded smaller support boats, and headed to a mysterious blue ship in the distance to seek help.
When they arrived, armed men on the boat pointed rifles at them, but some of the fishermen claimed to have been injured, so they allowed them to board.
The armed men reportedly detained the fishermen as soon as they boarded the boat and questioned them. In the second incident, the attackers carried out several more attacks to sink the Don Maca before leaving the scene with the survivors, Cervantes Macias said.
La Negra Francisca was left on fire. Chiriboga said another fishing crew arrived at the scene hours after the alleged attack and took video of the boat on fire. The crew recorded the burning ship’s coordinates as 1.591783, -87.741783, which Chiriboga said was about 270 miles off the coast of the Galapagos Islands and within Ecuador’s exclusive economic zone.
NOAA satellites detected the fire at the location at 3:02 p.m. on March 17, shortly after the alleged first attack.
Survivors of both attacks said they were tied up by armed men and had hoods placed over their heads as they boarded the blue ship, which Chiriboga described as a “ghost ship.” Several fishermen described the men as white, tall, speaking English, carrying rifles, and wearing brown camouflage clothing, some with U.S. flag patches on their arms.
Fishermen said the blue boat resembled a tuna fishing boat, but was larger and had a higher wheelhouse at the front. Behind was a crane, three large containers and – according to the first group of fishermen – a small motorboat.
While the crew of the La Negra Francisca is said to be in custody, Jordyn Flores said she was placed in one of the containers for medical treatment. There, he said he saw a board with an image of a drone and its boat. The rest of the crew were outside, sleeping on deck, Hernán Flores said.
Hours after each attack was reported, the gunmen transferred the crew to a Salvadoran Coast Guard vessel in the middle of the ocean and told guards the fishermen had been shipwrecked, according to both crew members. From there, they were shipped to El Salvador, hundreds of miles from their homeland.
On March 24, El Salvador admitted that its military had captured a group of Ecuadorian fishermen who matched the description of the crew of the La Negra Francisca. The country’s military said in a statement that the fishermen were survivors of a shipwreck who had been rescued at sea. There was no mention of the blue ship or the Americans. CNN has reached out to the Salvadoran government for further information.
Both groups of fishermen sailing to El Salvador said Salvadoran guards treated them well, giving them food, water and medical care. The fishermen said Salvadoran guards were asked why they were not repatriated to Ecuador and told them their boats were not allowed to enter Ecuadorian waters.
Both crews arrived in El Salvador about a week later. There they were interviewed by Salvadoran authorities and taken to a migration center and hospital, where they remained for several more days before finally being flown back to the coastal city of Manta, where the ship had departed.
Who attacked the boat? Why were they captured and extradited to El Salvador? The fishermen still don’t know. Jorge Chiriboga Davalos, a lawyer for the La Negra Francisca crew, said he plans to file a lawsuit in the United States once he knows who is responsible.
Manta is central to the United States’ fight against organized crime in the region, where the United States and Ecuador cooperate closely on security matters. In early March, the United States launched an unspecified operation targeting a “designated terrorist organization” in the South American country, according to the Pentagon.
However, while the United States has acknowledged carrying out dozens of deadly attacks on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Pacific and Caribbean, the two Ecuadorian vessels in question (La Negra Francisca Duarte II and Don Maca) were not among the acknowledged incidents, and the Pentagon has denied any involvement in the incidents. CNN has also reached out to the CIA and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for comment.
The fishermen insist they are not traffickers and have not been charged with drug-related crimes in Ecuador. Flores also told CNN that Ecuador’s patrol boat LG-30 inspected La Negra Francisca before the alleged attack and found no illegal activity. CNN has contacted the Ecuadorian Navy for more information.
“You cannot attack civilian vessels. It is an abuse and something we reject because it causes suffering and economic damage because it was their means of labor,” Chiriboga said.
Fernando Bastias, a lawyer with the Ecuadorian Human Rights Commission, said another Ecuadorian fishing boat called Fiorera, which went missing on a fishing trip with eight crew members on January 20, is believed to have been attacked as well. Two crew members who had disembarked to look for fish were out when they went missing. When we returned to its last known location, we found no trace of it.
However, Ecuadorian authorities have remained largely silent about this bizarre incident. In a statement to the media in Quito in April, Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld did not go into detail, simply stating that her only role was to coordinate the return of the fishermen who had been in El Salvador.
“Countries in Central America, Ecuador and North America are working together on joint activities. It was not possible to say exactly what kind of activities the fishermen were doing or what situation they were in,” she said. CNN has contacted the Ecuadorian Navy and its maritime division for more information.
The U.S. Embassy in Ecuador referred CNN to U.S. Southern Command, which has also been contacted.
The crews of the Don Maca and La Negra Francisca say they are recovering physically, mentally and financially.
Jordyn Flores, who had a major leg amputation, said she struggled to come up with medical bills during her hospital stay.
Hernan Flores said he suffers from sleep problems and migraines as a result of his head injury.
John Sebastian Palacios said he and other fishermen were afraid to return to the sea, fearing another attack.
“Psychologically, we’re kind of traumatized,” he told CNN. Cristian Mendoza, owner of the Don Maca, said the loss of the boat had left him and his crew without a source of income.
Mendoza was not on board the ship during the strike, but said he was in constant contact with the crew during the voyage and his main concern was the health of the fishermen.
“The first point is to thank God for the lives we managed to save,” he said. “The other point is to advocate for them and seek justice.”
