One migrant was found dead and another was hospitalized in serious condition Monday as the Coast Guard searched for two others missing in the waters off Key Biscayne.
The 43-year-old Cuban migrant, who was in serious condition after he was found in a homemade raft, was taken to land in a Miami Fire Rescue boat, the agency said. Aerial footage showed him being taken off the boat on a stretcher before he was taken to Mercy Hospital.
Good Samaritans Ken Cary and his wife Deborah Cary found the man struggling to survive on three rubber inner tubes about 7 miles southeast of Key Biscayne. He was pulled to safety on his 43rd birthday, Miami Fire Rescue said.
The man thanked God that he arrived in the U.S. on the day that he was born, Rudy Gil of Miami Fire Rescue said.
“He looked like he somebody that had been at sea for six days. He had a tremendous amount of sores on both his lower extremities,” said Lt. James Harrison. “He was extremely dehydrated. His skin was extremely mottled.”
The migrant rafters left Cuba six days ago, according to Miami Fire Rescue.
The man who was rescued said there were three other people in the water who had possibly drowned after he lost contact with them during their trip through the Florida Straits, the Coast Guard said.
A body was found floating just north of where the man was rescued, the Coast Guard said.
