39 migrants feared dead as boat capsizes off Florida
Some 38 migrants are feared to have died off the coast of Florida after their boat capsized during their journey from the Bahamas.
The US Coast Guard launched a huge search-and-rescue operation after the crew of a merchant vessel spotted a solitary survivor clinging to the overturned hull of a 25-foot-long boat about 40 miles off Fort Pierce, Florida, on Tuesday morning.
Since then, one body has been recovered.
Captain Jo-Ann Burdian says that finding the other migrants alive is their highest priority.
"It is dire. The longer they remain in the water, exposed to the marine environment, with every moment that passes, it becomes much more dire and more unlikely" that survivors will be found, she said.
Crews on at least four ships and five aircraft already scanned a vast area about the size of Wales. They planned to keep searching throughout Wednesday and then reevaluate.
"We are using every piece of information we can to make sure we are exhausting our search efforts," Captain Burdian said. "But we can't search forever."
The man who survived said he was part of a group of 40 people who left the island of Bimini in the Bahamas on Saturday evening in what the maritime security agency suspects was a human smuggling operation, she said. The man said they capsized shortly thereafter, and none of them were wearing life jackets.
Over the weekend the area saw winds up to 23mph and swells as high as 3 metres.
The survivor was brought to a hospital for symptoms of dehydration and sun exposure. He is now in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security.
Burdian said searchers saw indications of more victims, but no more bodies yet. "The aircraft have reported items in the debris field that's consistent with a number of people being on the vessel," she said.
Migrants have long used the islands of the Bahamas as a stepping stone to reach Florida and the United States.
For the most part, the migrants are from Haiti and Cuba but the Royal Bahamas Defence Force has reported apprehending migrants from other parts of the world, including from Colombia and Ecuador earlier this month.
