Without providing evidence, US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the strike killed six “narcoterrorists” in international waters, allegedly transporting drugs from Venezuela to the US.

Trinidadian police said residents of Las Cuevas village reported that two citizens were on the sunken vessel, but could not confirm their deaths.

At least 27 people have been killed so far in such attacks off the coast of Venezuela, which the Trump administration says are necessary to protect the US from smuggled narcotics from Venezuela.

Lenore Burnley, mother of 26-year-old Trinidadian fisherman Chad Joseph, told AFP by phone that people her family know in Venezuela “told them he was on the boat”.

“According to maritime law, if you see a boat, you are supposed to stop the boat and intercept it, not just blow it up. That’s our Trinidadian maritime law and I think every fisherman and every human knows that,” she said.

Burnley said her son was planning to return to Trinidad and Tobago after spending three months with family in Venezuela, just 11km away.

Local media reported another Trinidadian victim from Las Cuevas, known as Samaroo to locals.

In response to US military build-up in the region, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered large-scale military exercises on Wednesday and said he was mobilizing the military, police and a civilian militia to defend his country.