ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

2 cruise ships rescue more migrants off Florida coast

Share
Miami -

Crew members aboard two cruise ships rescued around two dozen migrants in small boats, the latest episode of hundreds making or attempting landings in the Florida Keys over the past several days, authorities said.

Crew members aboard Celebrity Beyond rescued 19 migrants from a crowded boat Monday, and crew members aboard Carnival Celebration spotted five people in distress on a small vessel about 29 miles (46 kilometers) northwest of Cuba.

Once the migrants were rescued from their drifting boat, the Carnival Celebration crew members contacted the U.S. Coast Guard, which took them into custody offshore, said Matt Lupoli, a spokesperson for Carnival Cruise Line.

"The ship resumed on its voyage with its scheduled itinerary unaffected and Carnival Celebration returned to Miami on Tuesday morning after a week-long Caribbean cruise," Lupoli said in an email.

Capt. Kate McCue, the skipper of Celebrity Beyond, posted video of Monday's rescue on social media. In the video, she said that she turned the ship around after her chief officer noticed a glimmer on the horizon that turned out to be the migrants.

After the migrants were aboard the ship, crew members provided them with blankets, a change of clothes, food and a medical evaluation, she said. The Coast Guard was contacted.

"Thank you to all the crew who made this rescue possible," McCue wrote.

Celebrity Cruises released a statement Tuesday thanking crew members.

"We are grateful for our crew's quick action, and the lives saved as a result," the company said.

The rescues were made amid a wave of migrant landings in the Florida Keys in the past several days that the local sheriff's office has called a "crisis."

Over the weekend, 300 migrants arrived at the sparsely populated Dry Tortugas National Park, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) west of Key West. The park was closed so that law enforcement and medical personnel could evaluate the group before moving them to Key West.

Separately, 160 migrants arrived by boats in other parts of the Florida Keys over New Year's weekend, and on Monday, around 30 people in two new groups of migrants were found in the Middle Keys.

"This shows a lack of a working plan by the federal government to deal with a mass migration issue that was foreseeable," Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said Monday in a news release.

U.S. Border Patrol and Coast Guard crews patrolling South Florida and the Keys have been experiencing the largest escalation of migrations by boat in nearly a decade, with hundreds of interceptions in recent months. Most of the migrants are from Cuba and Haiti and are escaping economic turmoil, food shortages and soaring inflation.

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.