The U.S. Coast Guard ship Bernard C. Webber pictured last year in Miami Beach, Fla. The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for 39 people after a good Samaritan rescued a man clinging to a boat off the coast of Florida. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
THE US Coast Guard searched yesterday for 39 people missing for several days after a boat believed to be used for human smuggling capsized off Florida’s coast en route from the Bahamas.
A good Samaritan called the Coast Guard early Tuesday after rescuing a man clinging to the boat 45 miles east of Fort Pierce, the maritime security agency reported on Twitter.
The man said he was with a group of 39 others that left the island of Bimini in The Bahamas on Saturday night. He said the boat capsized in severe weather and that no one was wearing life jackets.
The Coast Guard is calling it a case of human smuggling. Officials said on Twitter that they are searching by both air and sea over a roughly 135-mile area extending from Bimini to the Fort Pierce Inlet.
The agency patrols the waters around Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and The Bahamas, along routes often used by migrants trying to reach the US.
The agency stops and repatriates foreigners found navigating in US waters.
On Friday, the Coast Guard found 88 Haitians in an overloaded sail freighter west of Great Inagua.
“Navigating the Florida straits, Windward and Mona Passages... is extremely dangerous and can result in loss of life,” the Coast Guard said in a statement last weekend.
Last July, the Coast Guard rescued 13 people after their boat capsized off of Key West as Tropical Storm Elsa approached.
The survivors said they had left Cuba with 22 people aboard. Nine went missing in the water.
Comments
tribanon 2 years, 2 months ago
And even though all 88 of these Haitians readily admitted their ultimate destination was Florida, the U.S. Coast Guard ship that intercepted them dumped them all on the Bahamian people to feed, cloth, and bear the great cost of their repatriation back to Haiti when the non-existent Haitian government permits their repatriation. This is a most sick joke that the U.S. government is playing on our small financially-strapped nation. Small wonder U.S. foreign policy is losing friends and allies all around the world as the sinister and evil Communist Chinese Party's global influence continues to grow with each passing day.
choodot43 2 years, 2 months ago
BALONEY!
tribanon 2 years, 2 months ago
Suggest you read "Red Handed" to learn more about what's behind the demise of the U.S.
DiverBelow 2 years, 2 months ago
Who in their right mind would put 40 people on a boat less than 60 feet in length? This time it was an outboard powered 30ft vessel! Obviously there is desperation in the illegal person needing to get to the Florida, as there is in those crossing the Med from Africa. The real crime is in the low-life organized scum who make tremendous amounts of money from this desperation. 40 persons at $5,000 to $10,000 per head is no small money, steal a boat in the out islands, convince a fool to run the boat westward... who's neighbor is in such a despicable lucrative endeavor? We are a small population, everyone knows everyone's business. Like those on the African coast today, such opportunistic indifference to human life is similar to slave traders of yesteryear, the difference is that the traveling livestock is by individual choice. Emigration from Physical, Economic & Political Hardships is a strong motivator, being treated as modern livestock is wrong.
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