An overloaded sailboat carrying more than 150 migrants was stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies Thursday morning off Boca Chita Key, a small Upper Florida Keys island located in South Miami-Dade County.
By late afternoon, the Coast Guard said in a statement that it had begun loading the people onto cutters to be returned to their “country of origin,” which is believed to be Haiti.
Petty Officer Nicole Groll, Coast Guard District 7 spokeswoman, said that after the boat grounded off Boca Chita, situated within Biscayne National Park, all of its passengers remained on the vessel.
