The US Coast Guard is searching for 39 missing people after a boat suspected of being used for human smuggling capsized off the coast of Florida.
A passing boat notified the authorities after it rescued a survivor who was found clinging to the side of the capsized vessel.
The survivor told officials that the group left Bimini in the Bahamas on Saturday night and got into difficulty after it encountered bad weather.
None of the passengers are believed to have been wearing life jackets.
The coastguard says they are dealing with a “suspected human smuggling venture.”
“Coastguard air and surface asset crews are actively searching for people in the water,” they said in a tweet.
A national weather forecaster said waves in the storm on Saturday night reached seven to nine feet, with winds reaching 10 to 20 knots.
Smugglers undergo huge risks in these types of voyages as they navigate through treacherous conditions in below standard boats.
It is believed the high levels of unemployment during the pandemic has exacerbated the smuggling crisis as traffickers encourage migrants to make the trip with false promises of employment.
In the Bahamas, people without Bahamian citizenship, such as people born to a non-Bahamian father, are at heightened risk of trafficking, as well as those displaced by hurricanes.
Since 2014, at least 967 migrants have been reported to have disappeared during voyages in the Caribbean, according to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM).
However, this does not account for vessels that go undetected.
“The growing number of migrants’ deaths in the region is highly alarming,” said Michele Klein Solomon, IOM’s regional director for Central and North America and the Caribbean.
“Saving lives is an absolute priority.
“The families of those missing migrants need answers, and those politically responsible need better information and data to guarantee a safe and dignified migration for everyone.”
