The U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Juan suspended a four-day multiagency, international search Thursday evening for missing people from a vessel that capsized in the Mona Passage off Puerto Rico. Air and surface units searched for 78 consecutive hours across more than 2,000 square nautical miles—an area more than half the size of Puerto Rico.
On Tuesday, the Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Doyle transferred 49 survivors to Homeland Security Investigations agents and U.S. Border Patrol authorities in MayagĂĽez, Puerto Rico. The three deceased migrants were transferred to the Puerto Rico Institute of Forensic Sciences authorities.
The service said the search could resume pending new developments or information.