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US Coast Guard ship (stock image)
Photo:
Marta Lavandier/AP
After a boat belonging to suspected people smugglers capsized off the coast of the US state of Florida, emergency services are looking for 39 missing people.
The US Coast Guard said it was alerted on Tuesday after a "good Samaritan" rescued a survivor who was clinging to the capsized ship.
According to him, the boat started on Saturday night on the Bimini archipelago in the Bahamas and then capsized.
"According to the survivor, no one was wearing a life jacket," the Coast Guard said.
Accordingly, the accident site was about 70 kilometers east of Fort Pierce in Florida.
»Suspected people smuggling operation«
The US Coast Guard searched for possible survivors by ship and air.
The Coast Guard said of the capsized boat: "This is a suspected human smuggling operation." The Coast Guard published a photo on Twitter of a man sitting on the underside of a capsized boat.
On Friday, the Coast Guard rescued 88 Haitians from an overloaded sailing ship west of Great Inagua, Bahamas.
"Navigating the Florida Straits, Windward and Mona Passages is extremely dangerous and may result in loss of life," the statement said.
In February 2021, the Coast Guard rescued three people from a remote Caribbean island after they had stayed there for 33 days.
In order to survive, they apparently fed on rats, among other things, during this time.
sol/AFP/AP
