May 16, 2009 12:30 pm US/Eastern
11 Surviving Migrants Transferred To New Facility
8.800 Miles Searched
Nine People Confirmed Dead, 16 Survivors
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
A group of 11 of the surviving Haitian migrants are expected to be taken to the Broward Transitional Center on Saturday, according to immigrant advocate Cheryl Little. The group was turned over to Border Patrol on Friday just hours after the search for other migrants lost at sea was suspended. The migrants were aboard a ship that capsized off the coast of Boynton Beach on Wednesday.
Six women, two men, and a one-year-old girl died and 16 others were rescued on Wednesday after the boat was spotted about 15 miles offshore. Of the sixteen survivors, ten men and a woman were being detained on a Coast Guard cutter at sea. The remaining five individuals, three women, one man and a young boy, were taken to area hospitals Wednesday.
Officials believe about 28 to 35 people, many of them Haitian migrants, were aboard the boat when it left The Bahamas for Florida.
"Our thoughts are with each of the lost, the survivors and their loves ones," said Rear Adm. Steve Branham, Seventh Coast Guard District commander, in an emailed statement. "The Coast Guard and our local, state and federal partners remain committed to protecting life at sea and our nation's maritime borders. We will continue to aggressively patrol for migrants at sea and rescue them when they are in peril."
Rescuers had expanded the search area miles to the north, with hopes that some of the passengers were wearing life jackets and were carried north on the Gulf Stream current. But after patrolling more than 8,800 square miles for 31 hours late into Thursday night, the Coast Guard ended the search for the boat which one of the migrants described as being white with a center console and twin engines.
James Weber, a diver with Palm Beach Fire Rescue, was out doing exercises when the call came in. He helped recover a couple of survivors. "Their initial reaction was 'Oh God, oh God! Thank God, you guys saved us!' That was the words that came out of their mouths," he described.
The survivors said their boat had been carrying about 29 people, including women and children. Many had been in the water for from ten to twelve hours; only eight recovered had life jackets.
Some of the immigrants being detained on a Coast Guard cutter told customs investigators that they left from Bimini, in the Bahamas, on a trip to South Florida. Investigators are working to determine if this was an ill-fated smuggling attempt.
Since October 2008, the Coast Guard has stopped nearly 14 hundred Haitians from trying to enter the U.S.
Haitian activist Bob Jeune fears there will be more casualties because of the desperate situation in Haiti. "There is no food and no jobs." He's urging the Federal Government to grant temporary citizenship papers to the 30-thousand Haitians living in South Florida.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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