45 Migrants Rescued from Overloaded Sailboat off Florida Coast

U.S. Coast Guard crews rescued a group of 45 migrants packed onto an overloaded sailboat. Photos and video show smugglers loaded the migrants onto the boat without life jackets.

U.S. Coast Guard Southeast officials tweeted a series of reports regarding a sailboat of the coast of Virginia Key carrying 45 Haitian migrants. Officials have not reported the nationality of the migrants.

A video from an approaching Coast Guard vessel shows the migrants packed on the deck of the sailboat without life jackets.

Responding Coast Guard and other law enforcement partners removed the 45 migrants from the sailboat and transferred them to a Coast Guard cutter where they received food, water, shelter, and basic medical screening. It is likely the migrants were repatriated to their home country.

Elsewhere, Guardsmen from USCG Station Islamorada interdicted what appears to be a homemade watercraft packed with migrants. Again, none of the migrants had life jackets until Coast Guard law enforcement officials handed them out.

The crew of the Coast Guard boat stopped the vessel from reaching the U.S. coast in Florida.