The US Coast Guard searched on Tuesday 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 on Tuesday after rescuing a man clinging to the boat 45 miles (72km) east of Fort Pierce, the maritime security agency reported on Twitter.
The man said he had been with a group of 39 others that left the island of Bimini in the Bahamas on Saturday night. He said the boat had capsized in severe weather and that no one was wearing a life jacket.
The Coast Guard is calling it a case of human smuggling. The agency tweeted earlier on Tuesday about the search and then later posted a picture of the stranded man.
Officials also said on Twitter that they were searching by 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 Sunday the agency tweeted: “Crews continue to patrol waters around #Haiti, #PuertoRico and #Bahamas to ensure the safety of life at sea. Navigating the seas in overloaded & less than seaworthy vessels is extremely dangerous and can result in loss of life.”
Incidents of overturned or interdicted vessels crowded with people, many of them seeking refuge in the United States, are not uncommon in the waters off Florida.
On Friday, the Coast Guard found 88 Haitians in an overloaded sail freighter west of Great Inagua, Bahamas.
“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.
At least 557 Cuban migrants in all have been picked up at sea by the Coast Guard since the start of the current fiscal year in October, in addition to nearly 7,400 Cubans interdicted during the previous five years, according to the agency.
Vessel crossings of Haitian migrants have likewise grown more frequent as Caribbean island nation deals with economic and political crises, as well as gang-related kidnappings. The Coast Guard said it has intercepted at least 159 Haitian nationals so far this fiscal year.
