(NewsNation) — A large group of migrants were rescued from a makeshift vessel by emergency crews after it started taking on water off the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a press release Tuesday.
The USCG air and surface units, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) aircrew and a Dominican Republic Navy patrol boat worked together to rescue the 60 migrants from the 35-foot sinking vessel, the release said.
The crews were alerted of the incident on Monday night after a Coast Guard HC-144 ocean sentry aircraft detected the vessel about 13 nautical miles offshore. Once the crews reached the migrants, they distributed life jackets to each person and helped them transfer to the Dominican Republic Navy vessel once it arrived on the scene.
“I am extremely proud of our crew’s execution of last night’s rescue,” said Lt. Matthew Carmine, Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Napier’s commanding officer. “Their seamless interoperability with our CBP and Dominican Navy counterparts helped save 60 lives.”
According to the United States Coast Guard, migrants who try to enter the U.S. by sea are not allowed to seek refuge in the U.S. and may be declared ineligible for legal migration.
Last month, the Coast Guard carried out nine unlawful irregular migration voyage interdictions, resulting in the removal of 206 migrants. In the past year, 67 unlawful irregular migration voyage interdictions were conducted, removing 2,161 migrants from Florida’s shores, USCG reported.