Coast Guard suspends search for Miami-bound Haitian child and suspected smuggler
The search for a 9-year-old child and the man suspected of trying to smuggle the child and eight other people into the United States was called off Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
All were on an 18-foot boat that capsized Sunday about 46 miles west of Jupiter Inlet.
The Coast Guard credited a Good Samaritan with seeing the flipped boat and several people in the water and notifying the Coast Guard. Missing from what the Coast Guard believes was a group being smuggled from Freeport, Bahamas, to Miami were the Bahamian smuggler and a 9-year-old Haitian child.
By the Coast Guard’s account, the search lasted 69 hours and covered 4,154 square miles.
This story was originally published January 3, 2019 at 9:23 AM.
David J. Neal
Miami Herald