U.S. & World News

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CBS) ― The search continues for survivors after an overloaded boat capsized and sank about 15 miles off the coast Wednesday morning.

Thursday morning the U.S. Coast Guard announced that they had searched 27 hundred square miles and their efforts were now centered in the Vero Beach area. Coast Guard officials said they still haven't found the boat which one of migrants described as being white with a center console and twin engines.

"The criminal investigation will be handled by ICE and CBP, not by the Coast Guard, we're doing the search and rescue," said Coast Guard Captain James Fitton. "Our interest is to keep searching. We have every reason to believe that if somebody is in a life jacket, they should be fine. They could be alive, and that's what we're going to keep going on."

Nine people have been confirmed dead; six women, two men and a one year old girl.

Of the sixteen survivors, eleven of them; 10 men and a woman were being detained on a Coast Guard cutter at sea. The remaining five individuals; three women, one man and young boy were taken to area hospitals Wednesday to be treated for dehydration and other ailments. One of the women hospitalized is pregnant. Thursday morning the Coast Guard announced that they had released custody of the individuals who had been hospitalized to immigration and customs officials.

The Coast Guard said they received a call around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon from a boater who said he had pulled three people from the water.

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 29 people, including women and children. Many had been in the water for from ten to twelve hours; only eight recovered had life jackets.

Two victims were taken to Delray Medical Center. According to a hospital spokesperson, one person is stable and another is in critical condition. Another was taken to Palms West Hospital and is stable.

Wednesday evening Coast Guard members loaded the bodies of eight of the deceased onto Palm Beach County Fire Rescue stretchers at Phil Foster Park in Riviera Beach.

Fitton said most of the people appeared to be of Haitian descent.

Immigrant advocate Cheryl Little said these deaths once again spotlight the lengths people will take to reach American shores.

"People should not embark on these treacherous voyages," Little told CBS station WFOR-TV in Miami's Carey Codd. "They are taking their lives in their hands."

Some of immigrants being detained on 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. Fitton said the focus would remain on finding and recovering victims before looking at legal issues.

"It's a tragedy," Fitton said. "If this was a smuggling operation and somebody would be so callous with human life, it astounds us."

Wednesday afternoon a pair of Coast Guard helicopters, a jet and three boats were involved in the search and rescue operation, as well as a few "Good Samaritan" boats. One of the helicopters and two small boats continued the search through the night.

Since October, 2008, the Coast Guard has stopped nearly 14 hundred Haitians from trying to enter the U.S.


CBS4's Marybel Rodriguez contributed to this report.

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