Two Navy ships collided during a refueling attempt just off the South American coast, according to a report.
The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Truxtun and the fast combat support ship USNS Supply experienced the rare collision on Wednesday while conducting a ship-to-ship replenishment, U.S. Southern Command spokesman Col. Emmanuel Ortiz told The Wall Street Journal.
Two people suffered minor injuries as a result of the crash and are in stable condition. Both vessels were able to continue sailing after the incident, Ortiz said. An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the collision.
The ships collided as Donald Trump continues to order a military buildup in the Caribbean as part of his pressure campaign against so-called “narcoterrorists” operating in South and Central America.
That campaign has included multiple deadly strikes on alleged drug boats—moves that have faced accusations of amounting to war crimes—as well as the brazen abduction of Venezuela’s former leader, Nicolás Maduro, so he can face drug charges in New York.
The exact location of the collision between the U.S. warship and the Navy supply vessel remains unclear. A military official told the Journal that it occurred within U.S. Southern Command’s area of responsibility, which oversees operations in the Caribbean and parts of the South Atlantic and South Pacific.
The USS Truxtun left its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, to begin its scheduled deployment on February 6, while the USNS Supply has been operating in the Caribbean.
There are a total of 12 warships under U.S. Southern Command. In January, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, to be deployed to the Caribbean just as the Trump administration carried out strikes against Venezuela and captured Maduro before flying him out of the country.
Collisions involving U.S. Navy vessels are rare. Last February, the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with a merchant ship near Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea, though no injuries were reported.
In 2017, a total of 17 sailors were killed in two separate incidents. The first one involved the USS Fitzgeraldon colliding with a containership off the coast of Japan, followed just two months later by a tanker that struck the destroyer USS John S. McCain in waters near Singapore.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Navy for comment.
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