21 migrants pulled from water off Fla. coast more than 10 hours after boat flips

Fla. boat flips, dumping migrants in ocean

MIAMI — A boat filled with migrants from Haiti and the Bahamas capsized off the coast of Florida on Wednesday, dumping as many as 28 people in the ocean.

Twenty-one people were pulled from the water off Fort Lauderdale, seven of them unresponsive, the Coast Guard said. Those seven were being taken to the hospital.

The boat flipped about 2 a.m. but the Coast Guard didn’t learn about it until another boater called more than 10 hours later. He said he’d pulled three people from the water and about 25 others were awaiting rescue.

Delray Medical Center reported it was treating two women pulled from the water — one in stable and one in critical condition.

The Coast Guard also brought one person to Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee. That person was in stable condition, said hospital spokeswoman Lisa Gardi.

It was unclear where the boat was coming from or how many people might still be in the water. Rescues were taking place about 15 miles offshore and water temperatures by the afternoon were in the high 70s.

Two helicopters, a jet and three boats were involved in the rescue.

Since October, the Coast Guard says that it had stopped 1,377 Haitians, up from 972 during the same seven-month period last year.