A search for 39 people was launched off the coast of Florida on Tuesday after their boat capsized on Saturday. Migrants are believed to have been on board, the US Coast Guard said.
The boat, which departed from the Bimini, an archipelago in the Bahamas, capsized about 70 kilometers east of Fort Pierce Inlet Park state park due to bad weather. The coastguard speaks on Twitter of a suspected human trafficking operation.
One of the passengers was rescued as he was able to cling to the boat. A large-scale search was then launched. According to the survivor, 39 people were still on board and no one was wearing life jackets.
The Bahamas, an archipelago of 700 islands, is located about 50 miles southeast of the Florida coast, close to Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti. The area is regularly used as a “passage point” by migrants who want to reach the US.
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