The United States Coast Guard said on Thursday that it found four more victims of the sinking of a boat carrying 39 people that sank on Saturday off the coast of Florida. This brings the number of bodies rescued to five.
The rescuers, on the other hand, announced the suspension of the search operations, which will only happen again if new information arrives about the possible location of the other victims in the waters. On Wednesday (26), another body had already been found.
The incident took place on Saturday night, and authorities suspect that the boat, which departed the island of Bimini, in the Bahamas (88 kilometers from Miami), was being used in a human trafficking operation.
The only survivor was only found three days after the sinking, clinging to the overturned hull of the vessel, 64 kilometers from the coast, in the region of the city of Fort Piece.
According to him, the weather conditions were adverse and none of the passengers wore a life jacket. The Coast Guard said that at the time the sinking was believed to have occurred, the region had winds of more than 30 kilometers per hour and waves of up to three meters.
Also according to the agency, the vessel was found by a commercial tugboat 160 kilometers from the point where the accident would have occurred.
The nationality of the rescued man has not been released, nor are the origins of the other missing persons known or details about the bodies already found. Authorities said that information will only be made public after families are notified of the deaths.
On Thursday, the Coast Guard attributed the suspension of the rescue operation to the difficulty of finding survivors in the region’s turbulent waters – influenced by the Gulf Stream. “We don’t think it’s likely that anyone else survived,” Captain Jo-Ann Burdia told a news conference.
American authorities are also investigating the condition of the vessel and the circumstances of the sinking. The boat is believed to have been used by human traffickers. Anthony Salisbury, agent in charge of Homeland Security’s Miami office, said on Thursday he had launched an investigation aimed at prosecuting anyone who organized or profited from the operation.
The Bahamas, an archipelago of 700 islets, is often a transit point for migrants who want to reach the US on risky sea voyages. In another case on Wednesday, the Coast Guard said it intercepted a Bahamian sailboat overloaded with 191 Haitian immigrants bound for Florida. Five days earlier, 32 people were rescued after a boat capsized in the region.
The crossings of Haitian migrant ships have become more frequent with the worsening economic and political crises in the country. In July, the assassination of then-President Jovenel Moïse provoked protests, with shortages of supplies and cases of violence in the streets.
The social situation was exacerbated by an earthquake on 14 August that left more than 2,200 people dead and around 130,000 homes damaged. Haiti still suffers from a consolidated gang action.
On the coast of Florida, incidents involving Cuban immigrants are also not uncommon. In May of last year, 12 died after their vessel capsized off Key West; another eight were rescued alive at the time.
According to the Coast Guard, at least 557 migrants from the island have already been captured in this fiscal year, which began in October 2021. In the five previous years added together, there were about 7,400 such apprehensions. Among Haitians, there are already 159 people intercepted this fiscal year.
Last week, 90 Dominicans were repatriated after three vessels in the Puerto Rico region were blocked due to irregular migration.
