Search suspended for Cuban migrants missing off the Florida Keys, U.S. Coast Guard says
SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE: After searching what they said was 395 square miles, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Sunday that the search for survivors has been halted.
“Our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of those lost at sea,” said Chief Warrant Officer Jamey Kinney, Coast Guard Sector Key West search and rescue mission coordinator. “The Coast Guard and our local partner agencies exhaustively worked together on this search.
“Unfortunately, we have come to the most difficult time in any search and rescue case and that is the point at which we decide when to suspend the search.”
ORIGINAL STORY: One person is dead and several others are missing among a group of people attempting to migrate to South Florida from Cuba Thursday night, according to federal and local officials.
The group arrived off Sugarloaf Key in the Lower Florida Keys on a “rustic vessel,” according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Adam Hoffner, division chief of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Miami operations, said the boat capsized and six people were rescued from the water. The dead man was found on the boat, Hoffner said.
“All six survivors, who claim to be Cuban nationals, were immediately transported to the Lower Keys Medical Center in Key West, Florida, for evaluation and treatment,” Hoffner said in an email on Friday morning.
The survivors told Border Patrol agents that “additional persons” from the group are missing, Hoffner said.
“An active search and rescue is ongoing and the case remains under investigation,” he said.
READ MORE: Lost contact with migrant relatives sailing to Florida? Here’s how to get their status
Adam Linhardt, spokesman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, said Friday afternoon that the agency was working to identify the man who died.
The search and rescue is being conducted by the Border Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard, sheriff’s office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Hoffner said.
The tragedy occurred amid a surge not seen in roughly five years of maritime migration from Cuba and Haiti to South Florida. On Friday alone, the Coast Guard said it returned 14 people to Cuba who were stopped at sea off Key West this week.
The Border Patrol encountered at least one group of migrants from Cuba on land in the Keys on Wednesday.
Since the beginning of October, the Coast Guard has stopped more than 1,067 Cubans at sea and on the way to South Florida — the most since fiscal year 2017. Last fiscal year — Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021 — the Coast Guard said it stopped 838 Cubans along the Florida Straits, a spike from the prior fiscal year’s 49 people.
Since Oct. 1, the Coast Guard reports it has stopped nearly 2,300 people from Haiti at sea who were on their way to South Florida. That’s up from 1,527 in all of fiscal year 2021 — a huge jump from the 418 people interdicted the previous fiscal year, according to the Coast Guard.
Anyone with information on the missing is asked to call the Coast Guard at 305-292-8727.
This developing story will be updated.
This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 12:30 PM.
