Alarming news emerged from Florida in the United States of America.
A boat capsized off the coast with almost 40 people onboard. The incident came to light after a survivor was found clinging to the hull of the boat by a commercial mariner. The survivor informed authorities that the boat was carrying 39 other people.
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Subsequently, search and rescue operations were launched. The US authorities are suspecting that the vessel was being used in a human smuggling operation.
This case comes just days after an Indian family died at the US-Canada border due to extreme cold. They were also suspected to be victims of a human smuggling racket.
The survivor had boarded the boat from the Bahamas' Bimini islands on the night of January 22. The boat capsized after hitting rough weather around 70 km east of Fort Pierce inlet, off Florida's Atlantic coast. Captain Jo-Ann F. Burdian of the US Coast Guard said that the situation was 'dire'. "The longer they remain in the water without food, without water, exposed to the marine environment, the sun, the sea conditions. It is every moment that passes it becomes much more dire and unlikely that anyone could survive in those conditions," she said.