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4:05
The search continues for the missing after the shipwreck in Florida, USA.
38 people are still missing
A vessel bound for the Florida Coast from Bimini, The Bahamas, has capsized, and to date only one body has been found, one recorded survivor and 38 people remain missing.
It is a boat that had left Bimini, in the Bahamas, bound for Florida and capsized in the sea on Saturday night, 01.22.2022, due to strong waves recorded by the Weather Service.
That weekend the Coast Guard had issued a statement in which small boats were called to attention, since they had registered the presence of a large cold front in the sea passage.
This registered winds of approximately 37 kilometers per hour, that is to say 23 miles, and a high tide with approximately 9 feet of height.
One survivor found
Thanks to a fishing boat in the area, the first survivor of the shipwreck could be found, sitting on the overturned hull of the sunken ship in which he was traveling days ago.
At the time of finding the man, the people from the boat in the area informed the coastal authorities, and they immediately assisted the man found.
He himself reported that 40 people were traveling with him on the boat, and none of them had a life jacket with them.
The survivor was found 72 kilometers east of Fort Pierce, with strong symptoms of dehydration and sunburn, for which he was admitted to the nearest hospital.
A deceased person
After patrolling the area, carried out by helicopters, crews and specialized search planes, they found a body floating in the water, which was revealed as other crew members of the overturned boat.
According to the commander of the Coast Guard, Jo-Ann Burdian, they will not provide any information regarding the body found, however, she emphasized that the search for the rest of the 38 missing persons will continue.
What does the Coast Guard say?
US officials specify that, given the way things happened, it is possible human trafficking, however they have not found enough evidence to take it for granted.
They point out this, because incidents with these vessels are very frequent on the Florida coast, since there are many who try to reach the United States through this illegal route.
It should be noted that the commander of the Coast Guard, Jo-Ann Burdian, sternly warned that if more survivors were found, they would be in a delicate health situation, for so many days without hydration and constant exposure to the sun.
The Human Trafficking Hypothesis
For years, the US Coast Guard has patrolled the waters that encompass Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas, and at least once a month they come across shipwrecked boats full of immigrants.
Incidents with these vessels are very frequent on the Florida Coast, since there are many who try to reach the United States through this illegal route.
The danger of the traveled road
The boat loaded with the 40 people left from Bimini, an area that is located in the westernmost part of the Bahamas, 129 kilometers from Miami.
In that area, the weather is partially cold, with high waves and strong winds, and even more so if a storm approaches, as it seems to have happened the day after the disappearance of the disappeared.
The Bahamas the springboard to the United States
This archipelago has 700 islets and only 39 of them contain inhabitants, this island is located southeast of Florida, close to Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba.
Therefore, migrants have taken advantage of this "route" using it as a springboard to reach the coast of Florida and the United States; however, it is a totally dangerous course, and the registered accidents are several.
Such is the case of the finding of the 88 Haitians in an overloaded boat west of the Bahamas, which the Coast Guard found last Friday and all were deported.
Or in July 2021 when they rescued 13 Cubans, who had capsized along with their boat in Key West, due to the tropical storm Elsa that was being suffered at that time.
In that case, the US Coast Guard pointed out the extreme danger that these actions carried, emphasizing that in that case 22 people had embarked and 9 of them were lost at sea.
