The search for about 60 migrants missing at sea who left the Bahamas earlier this month for Florida has been called off, according to U.S. and Bahamian officials. The announcement came late Thursday night from the Homeland Security Task Force — Southeast, according to the Miami Herald.
Sharing a statement from the Royal Bahamas Defense Force, officials say the individuals reportedly left Abaco in the northern Bahamas on July 4 and were en route to Fort Pierce when the boat’s crew reported engine problems around 11 p.m. that day.
The Abaco Islands are a popular departure point for Haitian migrants seeking to travel to the United States.
The timing and departure point of the boat coincide with information circulating in the Haitian community about an up-and-coming Haitian rapper, Wens Jonathan Desir, known by the stage name Mechans-T.
Luckson Saint-Vil, a Haitian journalist with Radio Télévision Caraïbes investigating the rapper’s disappearance, said the artist had been traveling to the Bahamas for a show when he was allegedly approached to join a migrant journey to the United States. He has not been seen since.
A July 16 letter from the Haitian Embassy in Nassau, obtained by the Miami Herald, asked the Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs for “assistance in determining the whereabouts” of Desir, who went missing in Abaco. He had traveled to the Bahamas to perform at the island’s May 18 Haitian Flag Day celebration. “He has not returned to Haiti and his whereabouts remain unknown since his performance,” the letter said.
Neither Bahamian officials nor the U.S. Coast Guard have provided the nationalities of the missing migrants. Bahamian officials said in their statement Thursday that “based on information provided by the U.S. Coast Guard,” the search for the migrants has been suspended.
Coast Guard and Royal Bahamas Defense Force officials contacted by the Miami Herald said the nationalities of those aboard the vessel were not known. The Royal Bahamas Defense Force said the Coast Guard conducted two search and rescue flights on July 7 and 8 to look for the boat. “Despite this extensive aerial search, no sign of the vessel or its passengers has been found,” the statement said.
With Miami Herald
