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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It’s been five days since a boat carrying 40 people capsized on a dangerous trip to Florida.
As of Thursday, one survivor is hospitalized, one body has been recovered, and 38 people are still missing.
In a news conference on Wednesday morning, the Coast Guard also said they had spotted a debris field with items that appear to have belonged to the missing boaters and they’re going to be searching in that area. So far they have searched an area the size of New Jersey.
“The longer they remain in the water, without food, without water, exposed to the marine environment, the sun, the sea conditions, every moment that passes, it becomes much more dire and unlikely that anyone would survive in those conditions,” said U.S. Coast Captain Jo-Ann Burdian, Sector Miami Commander.
The U.S. Navy aircraft and other rescue crews are assisting in the search.

Coast Guard Cutter Ibis’ crew searching for people missing from a capsized boat off the coast of Florida, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. (U.S. Coast Guard via AP)
So far, the sole survivor of the boat was a man found clinging to the overturned hull of a 25-foot vessel about 45 miles east of Fort Pierce Inlet on Tuesday morning. He was spotted by a good Samaritan.
“That good Samaritan, who’s a commercial tug and barge, stopped and rescued a person off of the hull of that vessel,” said Burdian.
The name of the ship that rescued the survivor is ‘Signet Intruder’. It is part of the Signet Maritime Corporation.
The man told the Coast Guard he along with 39 others left Bimini on Saturday evening and ran into bad weather causing their boat to capsize Sunday morning. He said he was the only one wearing a life jacket.
“In cases like this, small vessels, overloaded, inexperienced operators, in bad weather is incredibly dangerous,” said Burdian.
The Coast Guard believes the trip was part of a human smuggling operation.
“Whoever was on the boat, the most important thing is to find them as quickly as possible,” said Burdian.
The man who was rescued has been interviewed by the Department of Homeland Security.
Migrants have long used the islands of the Bahamas as a steppingstone to reach Florida and the United States. But the vessels are often dangerously overloaded and prone to capsizing. There have been thousands of deaths over the years.