Chad Joseph, a 26-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago who had been living in Venezuela in recent months, told his family he would soon be taking a short boat ride back home.

He has yet to return, and now his family fears the worst.

On Thursday, his name spread across social media, with users saying that he was one of six people aboard a suspected drug vessel that had been blown up by the U.S. military this week.

“I don’t want to believe that this is my child,” his mother, Lenore Burnley, said in an interview. “Is this really true?”

The U.S. military has destroyed five boats it has alleged were ferrying drugs into the United States, killing 27 people. And despite the mounting death toll, no authority has come forward to publicly release the names of any of the dead.

Relatives have been l

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