US Coast Guard searching for 23 migrants after vessel sinks off Florida coast amid Hurricane Ian

WASHINGTON -- The US Coast Guard is searching for the 23 migrants whose vessel sank off the coast of Florida amid Hurricane Ian, an official said on Wednesday afternoon.

Walter Slosar, chief patrol agent for the US Border Patrol's Miami sector, tweeted that agents had responded to a migrant landing in Stock Island, Florida's Monroe County.

Slosar said that four "Cuban migrants swam to shore after their vessel sank due to inclement weather" and that a search and rescue operation is underway for 23 individuals believed to have been on the same boat.

Ian, a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 250 kilometers per hour, made landfall on the west coast of Florida on Wednesday afternoon.