Situation ‘dire’ as Coast Guard seeks 38 missing
MIAMI BEACH, FLA. >> The Coast Guard battled time and currents Wednesday as its planes and ships searched for 38 people missing off the coast of Florida, four days after a suspected human smuggling boat capsized in a storm.
The accident killed at least one person and left a single known survivor, and U.S. authorities launched a criminal investigation.
Capt. Jo-Ann F. Burdian said the survivor told rescuers that the boat capsized Saturday evening shortly after sailing from the Bahamas into a storm. The Coast Guard was alerted Tuesday morning after the crew of a merchant vessel spotted the man sitting alone on the overturned hull of the 25-foot boat. He was taken to a hospital with symptoms of dehydration and sun exposure and turned over to Homeland Security officials, who said he is “conscious and lucid.”
Burdian said finding other migrants alive is urgent.
“With every moment that passes, it becomes much more dire and more unlikely” that survivors will be found, she told a news conference.
Crews searched around the clock, extrapolating from where the wreck was spotted about 40 miles off Fort Pierce. By Wednesday morning, crews on at least four ships and five aircraft scanned a vast area about the size of New Jersey, Burdian said. They planned to keep searching throughout the day and then reevaluate.
“We are using every piece of information we can to make sure we are exhausting our search efforts,” Burdian said. “But we can’t search forever.”
The weather forecast through today calls for scattered rain and thunderstorms in the search area, with swells cresting at 2 to 3 feet and winds blowing at 12 to 15 mph. The National Weather Service described conditions as “relatively benign” until a strong cold front arrives on Friday.
Homeland Security Investigations opened the criminal probe, said Anthony Salisbury, special agent in charge of agency’s Miami office. The effort includes U.S. agents in the Bahamas.
“You’re dealing with criminal organizations that have no value for human life or safety. It’s really victimizing the migrants. It’s just about the money,” he said.
Agents have interviewed the survivor, but Salisbury would not identify the man or his nationality, nor reveal the nationalities of any others believed to have been on the vessel.
The rescued man told the Coast Guard he was part of a group of 40 people who left Bimini in the Bahamas, Burdian said. The man said the boat capsized shortly thereafter, and no one aboard was wearing a life jacket, she added.
A small craft advisory had been issued as a severe cold front blew through the dangerous passage on Saturday and Sunday, with winds up to 23 mph and swells up to 9 feet. Tommy Sewell, a local fishing guide, said there were high winds and fierce rain squalls from Sunday into Monday.
Burdian would not provide any more details, saying he’s now in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security.
Bimini is a small cluster of islands about 55 miles east of Miami and about 100 miles south of where the survivor was found. The capsized boat was apparently pushed north by the Gulf Stream.