The Coast Guard has suspended a search for a 29-foot Mako with about 20 people on board that was three days overdue on a trip from Bimini to Lake Worth, Florida. The search, involving planes and boats, lasted 84 hours and covered an area of 17,000 square miles, about twice the size of the state of Massachusetts.
The boat was reported missing a day after it was scheduled to arrive in Lake Worth, crossing the Gulf Stream from the Bahamas. The search did not turn up any trace of the boat or its passengers; there was no record of any kind of a distress signal.
The Coast Guard did not release the name of the boat or the identity of the passengers, although it said the boat was a blue-and-white Mako 29 Cuddy Cabin.
The search involved Coast Guard planes and cutters, planes from Patrick Air Force Base, and boats and planes from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association.
“They take into account the size of the vessel and the amount of gasoline and the motor it has,” Coast Guard Petty Officer José Hernandez told WPTV. “Then you have other people that plot the actual currents, the actual weather involved.”
The Coast Guard urges anyone with information about the missing boat to contact the District Seven Command Center at 305 415-6800.
“We don’t care if they’re illegals or drug trafficking,” Hernandez told the Sun Sentinel. “We don’t want any lives lost at sea.” Read more:
https://www.cbs58.com/news/search-suspended-for-boat-that-left-bahamas-with-20-on-board
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCG/bulletins/2b3b8c1
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9105633/Search-suspended-boat-left-Bahamas-20-board.html
