Florida Coast Guard carries out a rescue to a group of immigrants who was eight days ago on an uninhabited island without water or food.
(CNN) --
A group of more than 20 migrants was found Friday off Salt Cay, Bahamas, during a US Coast Guard flyover.
CNN witnessed, on board a coast guard plane, the sighting and the efforts of the authorities to assist these people from the air while aid arrived by sea.
After a routine two-hour flight over the Straits of Florida and the Bahamas searching for suspicious vessels, the six-member Coast Guard team saw through cameras and the aircraft's high-tech equipment that people were calling for help in one of the islands through which he had just passed.
The aircraft immediately returned to begin the overflight and determine the initial aid to be sent.
In the video you can see the moment in which the people on the island begin to jump and wave their arms, while in the sand you can read SOS, which is the most well-known distress signal in the world.
The US Coast Guard returns to Cuba 273 migrants intercepted off the coast of Florida
The Coast Guard immediately contacted their base in Key Largo, Florida, to report the find and determine how long it would take to reach the island to rescue them.
"Depending on how long that plan may take, we measure the risk that these people have with the resources that we have available and, if it makes more sense, we use the resources on the plane so that they have more time to wait," said the aircraft system operator, Raúl Tavares.
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Tavares said that, based on this information, they decided to throw a box from the plane with "a
radio, food, water and sheets”, to help them while help arrived.
Later, the coast guards asked them on the radio how many there were, how long they had been there and if there were any children or anyone sick.
The group replied that there were 21 people, that they had been stranded on this island for eight days without water or food, that there were no children and that one person had heart disease.
All this information was transmitted to the base of Cayo Largo, to prepare the assistance.
This Saturday, the Coast Guard announced via Twitter that these immigrants had been transferred in one of two operations that took place the previous day in the Atlantic.
#Breaking @USCG Cutter Bernard C. Webber's crew transferred 28 people to @TheRBDF, Fri, after 2 rescues off Bahamian islands & a suspected smuggling venture off Haulover Inlet.
"Smugglers don't care if your loved ones live, die, they only care about the $$."
- Lt. Cmdr.
Spado.
pic.twitter.com/6i7qxWKacI
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) February 3, 2023
The Coast Guard told CNN on Monday that the migrants "will likely be transferred in the near future" to Bahamian authorities, but for now their future is unknown for certain.
According to the US Coast Guard, between January 27 and February 3 they rescued more than 100 immigrants, while 66 Cubans and 309 Haitians were repatriated.
Florida US Coast Guard