A mayday call led to Coast Guard rescue, and repatriation, of 25 Haitians off Palm Beach
The mayday call may have saved the lives of 25 people aboard an overloaded 30-foot boat about 30 miles northeast of Jupiter.
“Mayday, mayday ... we are about 15 miles from, from Palm Beach ... on board a boat ... we need assistance ... including women and children.”
Some of Wednesday’s distress call is hard to decipher in an audio clip supplied by the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday. But the man in the call says the boat was pushed back either by wind or waves off Palm Beach and that the people on board needed help.
“Thankfully the people aboard this vessel had a VHF radio in order to call for help, but there wasn’t any other lifesaving equipment on board,” said Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Jason Reynolds, a command duty officer with Sector Miami. “The risk of loss of life is too great to take to the seas in overloaded, unseaworthy vessels and no lifesaving gear,” he added in a statement.
The rescue
#BreakingNews @USCG, @CBPAMO interdict 25 Haitians after they called for help reporting their boat was sinking off West Palm Beach.
"Thankfully they had a VHF radio in order to call for help..." - OSCS Jason Reynolds, Sector Miami. Read about it: https://t.co/vjBUK5u3bH
on FB pic.twitter.com/dM7H1O1gpR— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) March 5, 2021
Coast Guard Station Lake Worth Inlet and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations rescue crews were able to find the boat with its crew of 25 people still aboard Wednesday.
The Station Lake Worth Inlet rescue crew determined that the vessel was overloaded but not in danger of sinking at the time. There were no reported medical concerns.
Coast Guard Cutter William Flores took in 25 Haitian nationals: nine men, nine women and seven minors and repatriated them to Haiti.
Haitian migrants detained at sea off Palm Beach, Turks and Caicos on same day
How many are repatriated?
Since Oct. 1, 2020, Coast Guard crews have interdicted 181 Haitians compared to fiscal year 2020, which was Oct. 1, 2019, to Sept. 30, 2020, when crews interdicted 418 Haitians, according to Coast Guard figures.
“Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, migrants receive food, water, shelter and basic medical attention,” the Coast Guard said. Crews are equipped with personal protective equipment to minimize potential exposure to possible cases of COVID-19.
“There were no migrants in these cases reported to have any COVID-19 related symptoms,” the Coast Guard said.
