The search continued Monday for missing passengers after the U.S. Coast Guard was alerted to a boat capsizing off the Florida coast.
Five people remained unaccounted for and one person was tragically found dead on Sunday approximately 29 miles off St. Lucie Inlet, the Associated Press (AP) reported, noting four people were rescued.
In a social media post on Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard shared an image of the capsized boat and noted a “Good Samaritan” reported the incident to authorities:
#BREAKING @USCG crews rescued 4 people from a capsized vessel, Sun., approx. 29 miles off St. Lucie Inlet after a good Samaritan reported the incident. A person on board reported the vessel capsized Fri. and an additional 5 people are still missing. The search is ongoing. #SAR pic.twitter.com/R4dc16kyRZ
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) April 13, 2025
Per the AP article, authorities with the Martin County Fire Rescue said three of the four people who were rescued suffered non-life threatening injuries as a result of what happened.
The term “capsizing” refers to when a boat overturns partially or fully, according to the Drive a Boat USA website:
When a boat capsizes, everyone on board ends up in the water. There is no-one to throw PFDs to a person in distress, and this a perfect example of why the law stipulates that all boaters, including children, must wear a properly fitted life jacket at all times while boating. Most drowning victims (85%) were not wearing a life jacket at the time of their deaths.
The site said some causes of capsizing are waves, leaks, a sudden turn without slowing speed, an overloaded boat, adverse weather conditions, and boating under the influence.
The U.S. Coast Guard has been in the news for rescuing a man and his dog from a boat as Hurricane Helene approached the Florida coast in September, and for performing a “high-stakes” rescue of a cruise ship passenger who was suffering from strokes.
Most recently, “The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter James offloaded approximately 48,000 pounds of illicit narcotics with a street value estimated to be worth more than $509 million at Port Everglades, Florida, on Wednesday. The offloaded contraband, a result of thirteen offshore interdictions in international waters, will involve 11 separate criminal cases,” Breitbart News reported on Thursday.
