Nearly two dozen migrants rescued from rough seas off Key Largo
By CBS MIAMI TEAM
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MIAMI (WFOR) — Another daring rescue at sea as the US Coast Guard and US Border Patrol rescued 22 people, including children, from an overloaded boat in the Florida Keys.
A boater reported the vessel Monday morning off Rodriguez Key, east of Key Largo.
Rescue crews battled 6 to 10-foot seas and 25 mph winds to safely remove the people from the vessel.
Over the weekend, at least four people are believed to have drowned and rescuers searched for another five people off the Keys after a homemade vessel capsized.
The Coast Guard said nine people were rescued and the body of one person was recovered Saturday after the boat capsized about 50 miles from Little Torch Key.
Some of those rescued were wearing life jackets which likely saved their lives in the waves that hit as high as 8 feet amid 30 mph winds, the Coast Guard said in a tweet.
The agency did not identify the country of origin for the migrants but did tag the US Embassy in Cuba’s Twitter account in their tweets about the incident.
U.S. Border Patrol said there has been nearly a 300 percent increase this year in migrants arriving by boat. In October, there were 54 landings that involved 850 migrants compared to last October when there were only 14 landings.
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