Search suspended for missing person off Fla. coast
Feb 8, 2014, 1:47 AM
MIAMI (AP) – The Coast Guard has suspended its search for a final missing person after a 24-foot motorboat believed to be carrying 12 migrants capsized off the southeastern coast of Florida, killing at least four people.
The U.S. Coast Guard reports that the search ended Friday evening after crews searched 806 square miles of ocean.
The boat flipped Thursday about 75 miles northeast of West Palm Beach. The Royal Netherlands Navy first came upon the boat around noon. Sailors rescued seven survivors from atop the upside-down hull and recovered three bodies from under the boat. Naval officials contacted the Coast Guard, which later found a fourth body during its search.
Capt. Brendan McPherson said in a news release that the boat appeared to be part of a human smuggling operation. Officials weren’t immediately naming suspects or saying where the passengers were from.
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