Thirty-nine people are missing after a boat capsized in Florida

The U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday it conducted a search Tuesday to find 39 people missing after a boat suspected to be carrying migrants to Florida capsized Saturday.

The boat, which departed from the Bimini Islands in the Bahamas, capsized 70 km east of Fort Pierce Inlet Park due to bad weather, the Coast Guard said on Twitter, suspecting it was a “hijacking operation”. ‘Man’.

The warning was issued by the sailor who picked up one of the stranded passengers on the boat around 8:00 a.m. (GMT 1:00 p.m.) on Tuesday. According to the survivor, there were 39 more people on board and none of the passengers were wearing life jackets.

A picture released by the Coast Guard showed the man sitting on top of the capsized boat.

Several ships and planes took part in the search between Bimini, a small archipelago east of Miami, and Fort Pierce to the north.

The Bahamas, one of the 700 islands (including 39 populated islands) located 80 km southeast of Florida near Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti, continues to be used as transportation land by immigrants seeking to reach the United States. A dangerous starting point for Haitians to cross the archipelago.

Last Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard said 32 people had been rescued after a boat capsized during a human trafficking operation a few miles west of the Bimini Islands.

“Traveling at sea in boats loaded with heavy loads in poor condition is very dangerous and can lead to death,” they warned on Twitter on Sunday.