The boat was suspected of transporting migrants according to the American authorities who denounce a ” human trafficking “.
With our correspondent in Miami, David Thomson
Of the 40 passengers, only one has so far been saved. The man was found on the hull of the boat. The survivor had been drifting since the boat capsized on Saturday until a sailor came to his rescue three days later. It was the latter who gave the alert and gave some information on this boat. Its occupants, all migrants, had embarked without life jackets at the Bimini Islands in the Bahamas, before capsizing 70 km off Fort Piece, north of Miami, due to bad weather, according to the coast guard which speaks of “ human trafficking “.
#UPDATE @USCG crews are still searching. The good Sam notified #USCG Sector #Miami watchstanders, Tuesday, at approx. 8 am after rescuing a man on a capsized vessel. Multiple cutters & aircraft are searching from #bimini, #Bahamas to #FortPierce Inlet.
More updates follow. pic.twitter.com/kCVQ4LCaTe
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) January 25, 2022
There is, for the moment, no indication of the nationality of these missing persons, but the Bahamas archipelago is often used as a transit base by migrants trying to reach the United States. Since the assassination of the Haitian president in July, the crisis has settled on the island and more and more migrants from Haiti are trying their luck by sea. In recent months, three boats overloaded with illegal immigrants have reached the Florida coast. The last, an old pleasure boat, arrived in early January in Key Largo with 176 exhausted Haitians on board.