(EFE).- The number of Cubans killed as a result of a shipwreck in the Florida Keysin the extreme southeast of the United States, rose to 10, as announced on Tuesday by the US Coast Guard, which has already stopped rescue operations in the area.
The information, collected by the newspaper miami herald, indicates that the agency ended the search for survivors and bodies, after a boat capsized last Saturday 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Little Torch Key, in the Florida Keys, an archipelago of about 1,700 small islands.
Search efforts over the past weekend resulted in the initial location of the bodies of four migrants after a boat capsized in that area of South Florida.
The agency detailed that the crew of the coast guard Pablo Valent of the US Coast Guard subsequently rescued nine people during the search and found one more lifeless body on Saturday.
Five more bodies were found between Sunday and Monday by teams from the US Coast Guard.
The agency had reported that a person was rescued from the sea on Saturday, for which reason an alert was given to the Coast Guard Sector of Key West, the last island of the Florida Keys, located about 150 kilometers from the north coast of Cuba.
The rescued person told the authorities that he had left Jaimanitas beach, Havana, on November 13 together with a large group of people in a boat that capsized, leaving him the only survivor.
This castaway was picked up by another group of 18 Cubans, some of whom were wearing life jackets, but that second boat also sank.
The crew of the Pablo Valent coast guard managed to rescue nine people during the search tasks.
According to the 7th Coast Guard District, Cuban survivors reported seeing four people “immediately drown.”
According to the 7th Coast Guard District, Cuban survivors reported seeing four people “immediately drown.” The bodies were taken to the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office in the Florida Keys.
“Very rarely do we see people on these illegal voyages wearing security gear,” said Officer Richard Armstrong, deputy commanding officer of the Coast Guard’s Key West sector. “And that certainly saved their lives in treacherous sea conditions. Our condolences to the family and friends of those presumed lost at sea,” he added.
Richard Armstrong, deputy commanding officer of the Coast Guard’s Key West sector, said these trips carry great danger, as people who venture on these risky journeys rarely wear safety equipment.
On the other hand, the United States Coast Guard rescued more than 180 Haitian migrants who arrived in South Florida on Monday in a sailboat and tried to disembark in stormy waters with waves of up to three meters, while the search for several missing Cubans has been suspended. in a shipwreck
On Twitter, the federal agency said Tuesday that its crews have already rescued more than 180 of the Haitians who were traveling on the sailboat that struck a sandbank south of Whale Harbor, near Islamorada, in the Florida Keys.
Several of the migrants fell into a sea with waves between 6 and 10 feet high (1.8 and 3 meters) and winds of 25 miles per hour (40 km / h), according to authorities.
Reports from the Coast Guard realize that children were traveling on the boat who were rescued alive.
Also on Twitter, Walter N. Slosar, the chief of Border Patrol (CBP) in the Miami Sector, reported Tuesday that federal and state authorities rescued an “additional” 18 Haitian migrants who were trapped in “dangerous ocean currents while They were trying to swim to shore.”
Since last October 1, when this fiscal year began, the Coast Guard has intercepted 395 Haitian immigrants and some 5,392 Cubans at sea.
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