One person found dead after Coast Guard stops Cuban migrant boat in the Bahamas







David Goodhue/dgoodhue@miamiherald.com




David Goodhue
Thu, June 29, 2023 at 12:39 PM EDT



The U.S. Coast Guard found one person dead when it stopped a Cuban migrant boat in Bahamian waters earlier this week, the agency said in a statement Wednesday night.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Legare stopped the boat around 8:30 Monday night, the Coast Guard said. The cutter is based in Portsmouth, Virginia, and on patrol off South Florida as part of a migrant task force following a recent surge in maritime journeys from Cuba and Haiti.

Fifteen people were on board the boat. One of them, a man, was “unconscious and unresponsive” when crew members stopped the vessel, according to the statement.

“Crew members attempted to resuscitate and administered CPR for approximately 30 minutes, after which the Coast Guard flight surgeon pronounced the person deceased,” the statement reads.

The Legare transferred the 14 others and the man’s body to the Royal Bahamas Defense Force.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Estrada, a Coast Guard spokesman, told the Miami Herald there were no children on the boat. It will be up to Bahamian officials to transfer the man’s body back to Cuba, Estrada said.

An official with the Defense Force did not immediately respond to questions about the next steps for the migrants or the deceased man.

“This incident serves as a solemn reminder that unlawful maritime migration is always dangerous and very often deadly,” Capt. Joanna K. Hiigel, Coast Guard deputy incident commander for the migrant task force, said in a statement. “We implore anyone considering irregular migration to prioritize their own safety and the safety of their family by instead seeking to use the legal pathways available to them. We express our sincere condolences to anyone impacted by this tragic loss of life.”

The task force’s mission, dubbed Operation Vigilant Sentry, was launched in the beginning of the calendar year after maritime migrant stops and landings — mostly in the Florida Keys — reached levels not seen in nearly a decade.

The surge culminated with the closing of Dry Tortugas National Park off Key West because so many people landed there, and with the skeleton crew of park rangers overwhelmed.

The federal response, combined with the DeSantis administration issuing an executive order in January, which has since been extended, sending National Guard and state police air and maritime assets and personnel to the Keys to help patrol for incoming migrants, has significantly slowed the amount of people arriving in South Florida.

Since Oct. 1, the Coast Guard has stopped 6,800 people from Cuba and around 4,500 people from Haiti trying to enter the U.S. by boat, the agency said.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/one-perso...163927893.html