At least 11 migrants died and 31 were rescued from a boat that sank off the coast of Puerto Rico on Thursday, island authorities reported.
They estimate that more than 70 people were traveling in the ship that capsized 10 miles from the island of Desecheo
.
The nationality of the passengers is still unknown.
The spokesman for the San Juan Coast Guard, Ricardo Castrodad, said in an interview with the newspaper Nuevo Día that at least one C-130 plane and several helicopters have joined the search and rescue efforts.
"We continue with the search,"
he said.
Migrants who were shipwrecked 10 miles from Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico, are rescued on May 12, 2022. Telemundo Puerto Rico
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are also working with the Coast Guard and island officials on rescue efforts.
[“He saw how the others were dying around him until he was left alone”, says the lawyer of the shipwrecked migrant in Florida]
“The priority is to save as many lives as we can.
This is an urgent situation, and it is a tragic situation because this is what we have been talking about for weeks.
They are home-made boats, overloaded, unfit for navigation and without life-saving equipment on board," Castrodad added.
A CBP reconnaissance aircraft spotted the vessel as it was sinking and alerted the Coast Guard around 11:50 am local time.