According to a statement, a “good Samaritan” alerted the authorities on Tuesday (01.25.2022) around 08:00 (13:00 GMT) after rescuing a man clinging to an overturned boat, some 70 kilometers east of the inlet of Fort Pierce, in the Atlantic.
The castaway reported that on Saturday night he had left the Bimini Islands, in the Bahamas, with 39 other people, and that a storm had capsized the boat on Sunday morning. The authorities suspect that it is a case of “human trafficking”.
None of the people on board were wearing life jackets, according to the survivor, who was taken to a Florida hospital to treat symptoms of dehydration and excessive sun exposure.
An image released by the Coast Guard showed the boat capsized in the water with a man straddling the hull.
“Coast Guard air and surface crews are actively searching for people at sea. This is a suspected human smuggling incident,” the force’s statement posted on Twitter said.
The raid covers an area from the Bimini Islands, east of Miami, to Fort Pierce Cove, further north, in an operation that continued overnight.
Human traffickers use the Bahamas, an archipelago off the coast of Florida, as a staging point to transport people, many from other Caribbean countries such as Haiti, to the United States.
According to the International Organization for Migration, around 5,000 Haitian immigrants work legally in the Bahamas, but between 20,000 and 50,000 of their compatriots are illegally.
CP (afp, rtr)