Four migrants dead, five missing after homemade boat capsizes near Florida Keys 

At least four migrants were found dead and five others remain missing after a homemade vessel capsized on Saturday about 50 miles off the coast of Florida near Little Torch Key, the U.S. Coast Guard Southeast reported. 

At least 19 people were aboard the boat at the time it capsized. Nine individuals on board the ship were rescued and one dead body was found, the agency’s spokesperson Nicole Groll said. 

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, some of the migrants that were rescued were wearing life jackets, which authorities claim saved their lives in the 6- to 8-foot (2.4 meters) seas with winds of up to 30 miles (48 kph) per hour. 

"These vessels are too rustic, they're not going to survive this," Groll said, adding that some of the migrants were wearing life jackets, which helped ensure they could be rescued.

Four additional migrants are thought to have drowned “immediately” after the ship capsized. The Coast Guard is still looking for five migrants who remain missing at sea. 

The country of origin of the migrants was not immediately released. However, the U.S. Coast Guard tagged the U.S. Embassy in Cuba on their report of the incident on Twitter, indicating that the boat might have come from Cuba.  

The capsizing comes as the Caribbean Island is seeing a spike in migration, At least 220,000 Cubans were stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border during the fiscal year 2022, breaking previous records.