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The Coast Guard said on Friday it had suspended its search for a boat that had not arrived in Florida as expected days earlier. The Coast Guard said there were around 20 people on board.
The Coast Guard said it received a report on Tuesday that a 29-foot Mako Cuddy Cabin vessel, which left Bimini, Bahamas, on Monday, did not arrive in Lake Worth, Fla. The agency said it searched about 17,000 square miles for 84 hours to no avail.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the missing,” said Captain Stephen V. Burdian, Seventh District Response Leader. “I encourage anyone with information about the people on board to contact us as soon as possible.”
The CBS affiliate WPEC reported that the Coast Guard encountered many difficulties during the search, including rough waters and not knowing the identity of anyone on board or where exactly the boat was expected to arrive.
“The hard part is, the longer it takes us to find someone, the longer they can drift,” Jose Hernandez, US Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class of Public Affairs, told WPEC Wednesday.
Speaking days before the search was canceled, Hernandez said the Coast Guard will only suspend a search after we have already exhausted all assets and information we have.
“We want to find them, and finding them is our top priority, but we can only be there for that long,” he said at the time.
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