The Coast Guard this afternoon suspended its rescue operations after announcing that it had found four more bodies in its search for dozens of missing migrants after a boat capsized in the sea off Florida.
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Homeland Security Investigations officials said they were actively investigating the case as a human smuggling operation.
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So far, authorities have found four bodies between Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, bringing the total number of bodies located to five. With that 34 people were still missing until this Thursday.
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Commanding officer Capt. Jo-ann Burdian told a news conference that the Coast Guard will not close the case, even when its active search ends, and will continue to be present in the area.
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“The decision to suspend is really very very complicated,” Burdian said. “We don’t think it’s likely that anyone else survived,” he said.
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Weather conditions, the time the castaways have been in the water and the scope of the search area were the main factors considered to call off the mission, the captain said.
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Authorities said a 25-foot boat with 39 people on board capsized in bad weather shortly after leaving Bimini, Bahamas, on Saturday night.
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a commercial sailor rescued a man Tuesday morning 45 miles east of Fort Pierce Inlet after seeing him clinging to the capsized boat. This survivor was taken to hospital, where he is now in stable condition.
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The Burdian Coast Guard uses three ships and eight planes to survey an area between the northern Straits of Florida and Port Canaveral, roughly the size of the state of Massachusetts.
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“We have found four bodies in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to five bodies that we have recovered within our search area,” Capt. Burdian said.
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Looking for person responsible for human smuggling
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The Miami Homeland Security Investigations office launched an investigation and said the migrants’ journey was undoubtedly part of a human smuggling operation. Under federal law, a smuggler convicted of causing a death is eligible for execution.
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“The goal of this investigation is to identify, arrest and prosecute any criminal or criminal organization that organized, facilitated or profited from this doomed enterprise,” said HSI Miami Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury.
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Salisbury declined to give information about the nationalities of the ship’s passengers, but said investigators consider the sole survivor “a victim at this point,” not a suspect. Salisbury asked the public for advice to help identify who organized the boat crossing.
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“Please help us bring to justice criminals who prey on and victimize the vulnerable migrant community,” he said. “We don’t want anyone to do this again… This is a dangerous thing.”
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