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Officials said the men were heading to Fort Pierce on July 4 when the boat crew reported engine trouble around 11 p.m. that night.
MIAMI — The search for about 60 migrants who went missing at sea while traveling from the Bahamas to Florida earlier this month has been halted, according to U.S. and Bahamian officials.
The Homeland Security Task Force Southeast released the announcement late Thursday night.
The Royal Bahamas Defense Force said in a statement that the men likely left the northern Bahamas island of Abaco on July 4, heading for Fort Pierce, when the crew reported engine trouble around 11 p.m. that day. The Abaco Islands are a popular departure point for Haitian migrants heading to the United States.
The time and location of the boat’s departure coincided with news circulating in the Haitian community about the missing emerging Haitian rapper Wens Jonathan Desir, also known as Mechans-T.
Luxon Saint-Ville, a Haitian reporter for Caribbean TV who is investigating the rapper’s disappearance, said the singer was invited to join an immigrant journey to the United States when he went to the Bahamas for a show. He has not been seen since.
The Miami Herald obtained a letter from the Haitian Embassy in Nassau on Tuesday asking the Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs to “assist in determining the whereabouts of Desir, who is missing in Abaco.” Desir traveled to the Bahamas to attend Haitian Flag Day celebrations on the island on May 18.
“After the performance, he never returned to Haiti and his whereabouts are unknown,” the letter reads.
Neither Bahamian officials nor the U.S. Coast Guard disclosed the nationality of the missing migrants. Bahamian officials said in a statement Thursday that the search for the migrants had been suspended “based on intelligence provided by the U.S. Coast Guard.”
Coast Guard and Royal Bahamas Defense Force officials contacted by the Miami Herald said the nationalities of those on board were unknown.
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