On Sunday, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) suspended a search for 16 Cuban rafters whose boat they were traveling in capsized near the Florida Keys last week.
On Sunday, the USCG said:
“Teams have suspended the search for the 16 missing persons pending new information.”
On Friday, September 30, during searches, they recovered the bodies of two Cubans who were said to have died in the shipwreck.
Two days earlier, on Wednesday, September 28, they found three Cubans alive out of a large group of 23 people shipwrecked in a rustic boat, according to the Coast Guard.
The three Cubans were rescued “about 2 miles south of Boca Chica.” They were taken to the local hospital for symptoms of exhaustion and dehydration. Aircrew are still searching,” the USCG said on Twitter. The identity of the disappeared Cubans is still unknown.
Captain Robert Kinsey, of the USCG’s Seventh District, said upon learning of the 120 returned Cubans who ventured out to sea to reach the United States amid a cyclone threat:
“Going to sea at any time involves significant risk; Going to sea during a hurricane is absolutely unwise.”
According to U.S. official reports, 6,182 Cubans were intercepted at sea by Coast Guard crews in the ongoing fiscal year that began October 1, the highest number in the last 6 years. According to a report from Radio Martí, at least 64 rafters have been confirmed dead.
On Friday, the USCG announced that family members residing in the United States who wish to obtain information about a family member who may have been intercepted at sea must do so through their government agent.