About 300 Haitian migrants overloaded in a wooden vessel landed in the Florida Keys area over the weekend in what officials are calling a smuggling operation.
According to reports, one hundred and sixty-three of the Haitians swam ashore.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection told NBC News that the agency, along with the U.S. Coast Guard and local law enforcement, “responded to a maritime smuggling event that made landfall in Ocean Reef, Florida,” on Sunday.
The statement said an investigation is ongoing.
Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar tweeted that many migrants required medical attention.
But it was not immediately known how many of them went to hospitals.
Coast Guard images at the scene showed a large group of Haitians draped in towels on the shore.
They are the lucky ones, the worse is yet to come:
Let us pray the Lord to have mercy and provide help.