10 People Dead-More Missing-As Human Smuggling Boat Capsizes Off Florida Coast

10 People Dead-More Missing-As Human Smuggling Boat Capsizes Off Florida Coast Wednesday, May 13th. 2009. Authorities believe the small boat that capsized 15 miles east of Boynton Beach, Florida, was used for human smuggling.

The Coast Guard rescued 24 people from a capsized boat off the coast of Florida. Searches still do not know how many others are missing from the boat that capsized.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, most all of the victims are believed to be from Haiti and the Bahamas. They also stated that a dangerously high number of people were packed on to the
small pleasure cruiser.

The Coast Guard rescued 26 people from the boat but searchers still didn’t know how many more people had been on the boat and were missing.

“You don’t put 26 people on a small boat. It was way overloaded, completely unsafe,” said Capt. Jim Fitton, the Coast Guard’s sector commander in Miami, Florida. “With smugglers, you have the potential for this because smugglers aren’t interested in people’s welfare. They’re interested in making money.”

The small pleasure boat capsized about 15 miles east of Boynton Beach, Florida, some time around 2 a.m. Wednesday, May 13th, 2009, but the Coast Guard was notified more than nine hours after the capsize by someone who saw the boat.

10 People Dead-More Missing-As Human Smuggling Boat Capsizes Off Florida Coast and there were women and children on the boat and a  pregnant woman was taken to a hospital, while most of the victims remained on board  the Coast Guard cutter that was being used in the continuing rescue efforts, said Capt. Jim Fitton.

Only eight of the people rescued by Wednesday afternoon were wearing life jackets.

The Rev. Luke Harrigan, from Ft. Lauderdale, who is a pastor to members of the Haitian community is working with the Coast Guard, and he is contacting family members of the victims who were killed.

“Most of them now didn’t even know they were coming to the United States,” he said. “Sometimes the person organizing the trip doesn’t even tell them where they are going.”

He said it’s not uncommon for smugglers to charge people from the impoverished island nation as much as $4,000 for passage into the United States.

10 People Dead-More Missing-As Human Smuggling Boat Capsizes Off Florida Coast and Coast Guard rescuers were still searching the area of the crash Wednesday evening, looking for survivors.