LAKE WORTH BEACH, FLORIDA: Nine Cuban migrants who went missing after their boat capsized early on Sunday morning near Lake Worth Beach in Palm Beach County are being sought by the US Coast Guard as searches continue. Boaters pulled one person from the ocean at 3.30 pm on Monday, according to the reports, and he identified himself as one of 10 migrants who had departed from Cuba on December 10. Soon after searches to track the other nine started.
"Crews are searching for 9 people in the water after a good Samaritan rescued a person Sunday, at approx 3:30 p.m. off Lake Worth Beach. The survivor reported he and 9 others left Cuba on Dec. 10, & the vessel capsized early Sunday morning," USCG South East Tweeted. The incident comes as Coast Guard officials said they've intercepted a large amount of Cuban migrants in recent weeks.
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Since October 1, some 3,450 migrants have been intercepted by the Coast Guard, compared to 6,182 migrants in the previous fiscal year. On Sunday, the Coast Guard announced that 82 Cubans had been repatriated. On Friday, 164 were repatriated to Cuba, officials said, as per NBC. "USCG Cutter Charles David Jr's crew repatriated 82 Cuban, Sun. "USCG, partner agency crews are out in full force off the Florida coast doing our best to stop illegal migration at sea. Use legal means of coming to the U.S," the coast guards announced on December 18. The number of migrant encounters in South Florida increased 500% between October and December compared to the same period last year, according to Customs and Border Protection, reported WPTV.
The group had left Cuba on December 10 in a fishing vessel about 18 feet long, the survivor told officials as per WPBF. The survivor was transferred to emergency medical services and border patrol. The Coast Guard said it will search until "all information given has been exhausted." As of 10 am Monday, there were two ships searching offshore. The Miami Herald report noted that South Florida is the endpoint of the largest exodus of Cubans in nearly a decade. However, it is unusual that a migrant boat sailed as far north as Palm Beach County. Most of the makeshift vessels have been arriving in the Florida Keys and occasionally Miami-Dade County.