Over 100 migrants from Haiti, including children, have been rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard and an undetermined number of others were still aboard a boat in bitter weather hours after a good Samaritan reported the crowded vessel to officials Monday.
The good Samaritan reported the boat off Rodriguez Key about 5 a.m., the Coast Guard said in a tweet. Crews have since been fighting against 6- to 10-feet tall waves and 25 mph winds to get people off.
Advertisement
About 7 p.m., the boat struck a sandbar south of Whale Harbor, and the Coast Guard said some people were in the rough waters. U.S. Border Patrol and Coast Guard officials were at the scene.
Photos shared by the Coast Guard earlier Monday show guardsmen holding babies who were rescued.
Advertisement
“The weather has been a very big challenge to us all day,” said Petty Officer Nicole Groll, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard Southeast 7th District. “We’ve been doing everything humanly possible to ensure we safely get people off that vessel.”
It was not immediately clear how many people were still on the boat or in the water . It is also unclear whether anyone may be injured.
“We don’t know if people are injured. We don’t know if people can swim. That’s the downside of these ventures,” Groll said, adding that “very rarely” is there safety equipment on migrant boats.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement shortly after 7 p.m. that the boat was near Whale Harbor in Islamorada at Mile Marker 84 and that several ambulances and fire trucks were at the scene.
On Saturday, 217 Haitian nationals were turned over to officials in the Bahamas after they were interdicted at sea Thursday near the islands on a “grossly overloaded” 40-foot rustic boat, Coast Guard officials said in a statement. There was “minimal food and water” and no safety equipment on board, Coast Guard District 7 Lt. Peter Hutchison said in the statement.
Breaking News Alerts
As it happens
Get updates on developing stories as they happen with our free breaking news email alerts.
Twelve Haitian migrants were rescued Wednesday from an uninhabited island near Puerto Rico after spending five days there, where human smugglers abandoned them, according to Coast Guard officials. They were found because of the light from their small campfire.
Dozens have died en route to the U.S. territory this year as the rickety boats they’re crammed into capsize in treacherous waters.
Also on Monday, the Coast Guard called off a search for Cuban migrants who plunged into the sea about 50 miles off Little Torch Key Saturday when their boat capsized. A good Samaritan rescued one person who said he left Cuba on Nov. 13 “with a large group of people” but was the only survivor after it sank, officials said in a statement.
Advertisement
The survivor was picked up by another boat of Cuban migrants with 18 people on board, but that boat sank, too, the Coast Guard said. He and nine others survived. Some survivors told officials they saw four people “immediately drown.” Officials recovered six of the bodies.
Since Oct. 1, Coast Guard officials have interdicted 395 Haitian migrants. Last fiscal year, a total of 7,175 Haitian migrants were interdicted, significantly more than the 1,527 in fiscal year 2021. In fiscal year 2020, 418 Haitians were interdicted, according to Coast Guard statistics.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.