More than 100 people were rescued from an overloaded boat early Monday before it hit a shoal in the Florida Keys, according to the US Coast Guard and Border Patrol.
Another 18 Haitian immigrants “who became caught in dangerous ocean currents while trying to swim to shore” were also rescued by federal, state and local law enforcement. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Walter Slosar he said Tuesday on Twitter.
How many migrants were on the ship, how many were rescued and their conditions remain unclear. The nationality of all was also not immediately known, the Coast Guard said.
As the ship struck the shoal off Whale Harbor, there were “reports of people in the water and our land partners are on the scene,” the Southeast Coast Guard said in a tweet.
Rescue efforts began by the coast guard.
Conditions were difficult for rescue teams, with 6- to 10-foot waves and 25-mph winds, the Coast Guard told CNN. Whale Harbor is in Islamorada, in the Upper Florida Keys.
Rescue operations began when a Good Samaritan reported the boat to Key West vigilantes at 5 a.m., the Coast Guard said in a tweet.
On Sunday, the Coast Guard said at least five people were dead after a homemade boat capsized near Little Torch Key in Florida. Nine people were rescued from the boat, according to the agency.
Authorities had nearly 7,000 encounters with Haitian immigrants in Florida in October, compared with just 1,188 in October 2021, according to data from the US Customs and Border Patrol. The agency reported nearly 57,000 encounters with Haitian immigrants in Florida in 2022. , an increase from nearly 49,000 the previous year.