MIAMI (AFP) – The United States (US) Coast Guard has launched a search for 39 people reported missing when a boat capsized off the coast of Florida in a “suspected human smuggling venture”.
The Coast Guard in Miami said on Tuesday it received a report “from a good Samaritan” who rescued a man “clinging to a capsized vessel approximately 45 miles east of Fort Pierce Inlet”.
The survivor said the boat left Bimini in the Bahamas on Saturday night, and had encountered rough weather before it capsized.
“According to the survivor, no one was wearing a life jacket,” the statement said.
