Mysterious bomb-dropping drones sank their fishing boats, survivors say. Who was behind the attacks?

“We heard the explosion – boom! It was the kind of blast that left my ears ringing. Right then, I felt blood running down me,” he recounted.

Flores had captained one of two Ecuadorian fishing crews who say their boats were sunk in an unexplained attack involving small, explosive-laden rotor drones launched by armed foreigners in March.

The incidents have been the subject of mounting interest in the United States, with the Washington Post this week reporting that the strikes were carried out as part of a covert CIA program – a claim CNN cannot independently verify. A spokesperson for the CIA told CNN, “We do not have any guidance to offer on this.”

CNN spoke to multiple fishermen about the experience and what happened to them next. This is the story through their eyes.
‘Dropping the bomb on us’

The two fishing crews reported almost identical experiences, though they were attacked separately.

Several days into their respective fishing voyages, both said they spotted a mysterious blue ship and drones seemingly following them at a distance. At the time, they said they had no reason to believe they were being targeted, so they carried on with their work.

A day or two later, they said their boats were suddenly attacked.

Without warning, a pair of drones either dropped explosives or crashed into the boats, hitting La Negra Francisca Duarte II on March 17 and Don Maca on March 26, according to the fishermen.

They described the drones as relatively small, measuring roughly the size of a pillow, with rotors in all four corners and a tube hanging from the centre, from which explosives are believed to have been dropped.

The first drone seemingly detonated after crashing onto the gas tanks of La Negra Francisca, the crew recounted, while the second appears to have dropped an explosive.

Hernán Flores, captain of the boat’s 16 crew members, said one drone crashed into the boat, severely injuring the foot of his nephew Jordyn.

The flames from one explosion also burned the upper half of another crewmate’s back, according to the crew’s attorney Jorge Chiriboga Dávalos, who shared photos of the injuries.

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The Berliner Unterwelten association, dedicated to preserving the city’s rich underground history, says that the bunker in question is one of four which have survived out of the many built by the Nazis in the district around the Brandenburg Gate.

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