Coast Guard Intercepts Overloaded Boat Packed With 66 Migrants

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter tracked a dangerously overloaded boat packed with 66 migrants in the waters between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic before a cutter intercepted it.

Thermal footage released by the Coast Guard shows the 30-foot makeshift vessel crammed shoulder to shoulder with people as it cuts through the sea on October 16, filmed by an MH-60T Jayhawk crew from Air Station Borinquen.

The boat was spotted by a Coast Guard aircraft about 70 nautical miles northwest of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, the Coast Guard said. Citing safety-of-life concerns, the crew of the cutter Winslow Griesser took everyone aboard: 55 men and four women who said they were Dominican nationals and six men and a woman who said they were Haitian.

On October 17, the cutter handed 63 of them over to two Dominican Republic Navy vessels in the Mona Passage. The other three remain in federal custody and face possible charges of illegal reentry to the United States. “They saved 66 people from a dangerously overloaded vessel attempting to transit across a vast ocean with little to no safety equipment,” said Lt. Alex Kearney, the cutter’s commanding officer.