The US Coast Guard is searching for 39 people who were on board a suspected people smuggling boat when it capsized off the Florida coast.
Officials said that the alarm was raised when a survivor clinging to the capsized vessel was rescued by a "good Samaritan" about 45 miles east of Fort Pierce Inlet.
The survivor said that he was one of 40 people who had left Bimini in the Bahamas on Saturday night but quickly encountered bad weather. He said nobody was wearing a life jacket.
The Coast Guard said it believed it was dealing with a “human smuggling venture”.
This is not the first such disaster. Last May, another suspected human smuggling boat capsized off a beach in California, reportedly killing one person and injuring 11.
Another, larger smuggling vessel turned over off Point Loma near San Diego the same month, allegedly killing four people. The San Diego Fire Department pulled 27 people from the water, with five needing CPR.
Follow live updates below as this story develops.
