Coast Guard searching for 39 people whose boat reportedly capsized near Florida coast

The U.S. Coast Guard says rescue crews are searching for 39 people who went missing Saturday after their boat reportedly capsized after departing from the Bahamas.

Coast Guard officials said they learned about the incident on Tuesday morning after a good Samaritan rescued a man clinging to a capsized vessel about 45 miles east of Florida’s Fort Pierce Inlet.

The survivor was aboard a boat that departed from Bimini, Bahamas, a small island roughly 55 miles east of Miami. In a tweet announcing the rescue operation, the Coast Guard called the incident a “suspected human smuggling venture.”