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KEY WEST, Fla. — The prospects of survival for dozens of migrants misplaced at sea have been wanting more and more bleak on Wednesday because the U.S. Coast Guard continued its seek for 38 individuals whose boat capsized within the Florida Straits over the weekend.
“It’s dire,” Capt. Jo-Ann F. Burdian, the commander of the Coast Guard’s Miami district, mentioned at a briefing on Wednesday. “The longer they continue to be within the water, with out meals, with out water, it’s chilly, with the marine atmosphere, the solar, the situations. Each second that passes, and it turns into rather more dire and unlikely that anybody can survive.”
One man rescued on Tuesday was transported to a hospital to be handled for dehydration and solar publicity.
The search operation started at about 8 a.m. on Tuesday when a industrial mariner reported seeing a 25-foot boat capsized about 40 miles east of Fort Pierce, Fla. A tug and barge pulled the survivor off the hull.
The person, whose nationality was not launched, informed the authorities that he had left Bimini, within the Bahamas, on Saturday night time with 39 different individuals. The vessel capsized shortly after leaving in climate that included a extreme chilly entrance, as much as nine-foot seas and 23 mile-per-hour winds. Nobody was carrying life jackets.
The Coast Guard noticed at the very least one deceased individual within the water, Captain Burdian mentioned.
The voyage seemed to be a part of a human-smuggling operation, she mentioned. Previously yr, some 700 individuals have been intercepted at sea within the space off Florida, she mentioned.
The Bahamas is a well-liked departure location for Haitians attempting to make it to South Florida. Final week, the Coast Guard reported that 155 Dominicans and 129 Haitians had been captured at sea because the fiscal yr started in October.
In 2021, 463 Dominicans and 15 Haitians have been intercepted.
The Coast Guard has additionally seen a rise within the variety of Cubans taking to the ocean. For the reason that fiscal yr began, 557 Cubans have been intercepted, in contrast with 49 in all the 2020 fiscal yr.
“Truthfully I feel the choice to take to the ocean is an advanced one,” Captain Burdian mentioned. “Actually as we noticed on this the waters within the Northern Straits will be fairly treacherous”
The Coast Guard has to date searched about 7,500 nautical miles, an space in regards to the dimension of New Jersey, she mentioned. The search was persevering with on Wednesday, however in some unspecified time in the future, she mentioned, officers must name off the operation because the possibilities of survival grew extra slim.
The authorities within the Bahamas mentioned info was nonetheless being gathered.
“Every part is sketchy proper now,” mentioned Keith Bell, minister of immigration within the Bahamas. “We’re speaking with our U.S. counterparts and we’re in communication with the Ministry of Nationwide Safety as properly to see what info is on the market, simply to verify whether or not or not it did actually come from Bimini and who have been these individuals.”
Rachel Knowles-Scott contributed reporting from Nassau.
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