Four female suspected migrants died Wednesday, after a boat carrying eleven other passengers capsized off the coast of Miami Beach.
U.S. Coast Guard officials told the Miami Herald that the boaters are thought to be from Haiti and Jamaica. Rescue crew members found the survivors hanging onto the hull of the 15-20 foot-long power boat after one of the passengers called 911 on a cell phone at about 1:00 a.m. EST, according to Reuters. Miami-Dade Police then called the Coast Guard, which sent rescue boats and a helicopter to the area where the distressed were clinging onto the vessel around seven nautical miles southeast of Government Cut.
"It was difficult to ascertain truly how many people were on this overloaded vessel," Chief Response Officer for the Miami Coast Guard Darren Caprara told the Miami Herald.
Caprara reported that the Coast Guard turned the ship upright, and found one more survivor in addition to the four victims' remains.
"He was able to cling to life by finding an air pocket under the vessel," Caprara told the Miami Herald of the eleventh survivor.
One of the 11 surviving passengers was rushed to Mount Sinai Medical Center to receive medical attention after he exhibited signs of a seizure, Petty Officer Sabrina Laberdesque told Reuters. He was then sent to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The remaining survivors were with the Coast Guard as of 10:00 a.m. Wednesday.
Laberdesque said that the incident was thought to be an attempt to smuggle a group of migrants into the United States, but could not confirm.
"We're searching by air and by sea for additional possible survivors," she said, adding that authorities were still unsure of the origin of the boat.
The survivors were interrogated in the early morning by border officials. Investigators began a probe into the event as well, Laberdesque reported.
