Boat with Cuban Markings Lands in Miami Beach – NBC 6 South Florida

The sunrise brought an unusual sight and smell to a stretch of Miami Beach Sunday morning.

A boat with markings indicating that it was based in Havana, Cuba was beached at 69th Street and Collins Avenue in Miami Beach along with the smell of the fuel oil that powered it.

It is about 250 miles from Havana to North Beach by sea and a world apart for increasing numbers of desperate migrants who are risking the seas to get to South Florida.

An official on the scene told NBC 6 that the boat landed overnight and there were no signs of migrants or border patrol agents there Sunday morning.

It is not known whether whoever was onboard made it ashore successfully.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says agents have had encounters with more than 157,000 Cubans since October of last year.

Out at sea, the U.S. Coast Guard has interdicted nearly 4,000 Cuban migrants.

The U.S. Coast Guard says this year, 67 people have died out at sea due to illegal migration.