The U.S. Coast Guard has halted its search for 16 migrants whose boat wrecked during Hurricane Ian off the coast of Florida. Prior to this, two corpses had been discovered. According to a tweet from the Coast Guard on Sunday, “crews paused the search for the 16 missing persons awaiting fresh information.”
Just hours before Hurricane Ian hit Florida on Wednesday, a boat carrying 27 Cuban refugees overturned and sank.
According to the U.S. Border Patrol, four of the migrants were able to swim to Stock Island, which is located immediately east of Key West. On Thursday, the Coast Guard said that a total of nine persons had been found and successfully recovered. The Coast reported on Friday that two corpses had been found, one close to Ocean Edge Marina and the other in Boca Chica Channel.
In a statement released on Friday, Coast Guard Captain Robert Kinsey warned, “Taking to the water at any time entails tremendous danger.” Going out to sea during a storm is downright dangerous.
Two people were murdered and the nation’s electrical system was destroyed by the hurricane that hit Cuba earlier this week.
Then, on Wednesday, Ian, the second-strongest category on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, made ashore close to Cayo Costa, Florida.