MIAMI, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- At least 30 Haitian migrants were killed when an overloaded wooden sailboat grounded and capsized off the Bahamian coast, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday.
Coast Guard and Bahamian military crews rescued 110 immigrants after the 40-foot sloop capsized Monday night about 17 miles southwest of Staniel Cay, Bahamas, The Miami Herald reported.
Survivors were holding on to the hull when rescuers reached the scene.
"So far, Bahamian authorities can account for 110 survivors," Elcott Coleby, deputy director of the Bahamas government information office, told the Herald. At least 30 bodies had been pulled from the water, the Coast Guard said.
The rescue operation involved an MH-60 helicopter crew from the Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., that pulled 13 people from the water. A Coast Guard Air Station Miami crew and a crew on an Air Station Clearwater HC-130 dropped food, supplies and life rafts.
Coast Guard and Bahamian officials said the search-and-recovery effort would resume early Wednesday for "an undetermined number" of migrants feared dead.
Operations also were expected to take place to rescue a second group of stranded Haitians spotted Tuesday on the Bahamas' Ragged Island about 90 miles south of the maritime disaster.
