The US Coast Guard is looking for 39 people missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Florida. That reports AP . news agency. Searches are underway from the air and sea by authorities, who say those on board were likely migrants smuggled into the US.
On Tuesday, the Coast Guard received a report that a man had been rescued from a capsized boat more than 70 kilometers from the coast. This survivor said he and 39 others had left the Bahamas for the US, but the boat capsized after being caught in a storm. None of the people on board were said to have worn a life jacket.
The Bahamas archipelago, located 400 kilometers off the coast of Florida, is more commonly used by Haitian and Dominican migrants to enter the US. Last Friday, for example, 88 Haitians were taken from a sailing ship west of the archipelago. They also tried to come to the US, a journey in which, according to US authorities, there are regular casualties.