Relatives of 28-year-old Chad Burnley suspect that he was one of two Trinidadians who were killed in the US strike on a vessel in international waters off Venezuela.
His relatives spoke exclusively with Senior Multimedia Investigative Journalist Mark Bassant on Wednesday.
00:00The fifth lethal kinetic strike in as many weeks off the coast of Venezuela may have claimed the lives of at least two Trinidadians who were on board,
00:08with relatives of one of the men coming forward saying that 28-year-old Chad Burnley from Las Quavers was one of them.
00:15Two relatives who spoke to TV6 News exclusively said that Burnley had been in Colombia for the last four months and had made at least two previous attempts to get home.
00:25However, both relatives confirmed that on those occasions the vessel they were traveling in was shot at and they had to return to Colombia.
00:33However, Burnley in company with another Trinidadian and four Venezuelan nationals left Colombia sometime late Sunday or early Monday and decided to make the journey toward Trinidad, the relatives explained.
00:45One relative said that the men traveled along the coastline and were reportedly shot at several times as they neared Venezuela.
00:51The vessel ran aground somewhere in the Carapano area.
00:56The relative said based on the information they received, Burnley and the others decided to wait it out for a few hours before venturing to Trinidad.
01:04Another female relative said that a boat was supposed to meet Burnley and the other Trinidadian in Trinidad waters and take them home.
01:11However, when they left Venezuela and entered international waters, the boat was struck killing all six men aboard.
01:17The relative said one of Burnley's close relatives was contacted yesterday and told that Burnley was on the boat that was destroyed by the U.S.
01:25His relative said that he could not say what he was doing in Colombia all that time and could not say with any certainty if he had been involved in illegal activities, but described him as a nice, loving and caring person.
01:36U.S. President Donald Trump had announced on Truth Social that under his standing authorities as commander-in-chief on Tuesday morning,
01:45the Secretary of War ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a designated terrorist organization conducting narco-trafficking in the U.S. South Com area of responsibility just off the coast of Venezuela.
01:58President Trump further said, quote, intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narco-terrorist networks and was transiting along a known DTO route.
02:12The strike was conducted in international waters and six male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike.
02:19No U.S. forces were harmed, end quote.
02:21Attempts to contact Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander on whether he had been notified if any Trinidadians had been killed in the latest U.S. strike were unsuccessful.
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