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MIAMI – The US Coast Guard on Friday suspended their search for a late boat that was heading to Florida from the Bahamas with 20 people on board, after authorities said they had exhausted their efforts to find it.
The boat, a 29-foot blue and white Mako Cuddy Cabin, took off from Bimini, Bahamas on Monday, the Coast Guard said.
The boat did not arrive as expected in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, approximately 10 miles south of Palm Beach.
The Coast Guard said it and other agencies, including authorities in the Bahamas, searched approximately 17,000 square miles for more than three days.
“Our hearts and prayers are with the families of the missing,” said Captain Stephen V. Burdian, the Seventh District response chief. “I encourage anyone with information on the people on board to contact us as soon as possible.”
Authorities in the Bahamas reported the boat missing after a family member of someone on board did not receive a call that the boat had traveled to South Florida, the boat said on Saturday. Petty Officer Third Class Jose Hernandez.
“Anytime we have to cancel a suspension it’s not an easy call,” he said.
Many details of the trip, including the reason the boat was going to Florida and the names and nationalities of those on board, were not immediately known, sea master Hernandez said.
The search could resume if officials get credible new information about the boat, he said.
“It was all about search and rescue this whole time,” he said. “For now, the suspension just means that we are focusing on other cases until we get more information, and then we will look for that particular vessel and those people.”
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