MIAMI, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Six of 11 survivors of a fatal migrant boat sinking off Miami Beach this week were arrested, authorities said.
The 25-foot motorboat, carrying 15 people, capsized seven miles off the coast of Miami Beach Wednesday after leaving the Bahamas. Four women drowned but the U.S. Coast Guard rescued 11 survivors.
Six of the survivors had been deported previously from the United States after having been convicted of serious crimes, The Miami Herald reported Friday.
Crewman George Lewis, 37, of Jamaica faces a charge of attempted smuggling of the migrants. The migrants are citizens of the Bahamas, Haiti and Jamaica and none had permission to enter the United States. Lewis and Naaman Davis, the ship's captain, were identified as the smugglers but no charges were immediately filed against Davis, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security criminal complaint said.
The others arrested, on charges of entering the United States illegally after being deported, were Sean Gaynor, 27, Kenard Hagigal, 34, Matthew Williams, 30, and Everton Jones, 50.
Each of the six had been deported from the United States prior to the capsizing incident.
WPLG-TV, Miami, reported five other migrants aboard the boat were not charged.
Any of the arrested men could be charged in the deaths of the four women, the Herald said.
