Police: 911 Call For Help From Capsized Smuggler's Boat Released

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A frantic call for help to 9-1-1 led the Coast Guard and Border Protection officers to a failed smuggling operation off the coast of Miami.

Around 1 a.m. Wednesday, emergency operators received a call about a boat in trouble.

"Miami-Dade County police and fire, what is your emergency," asked the operator.

"We are 25 miles out from South Beach. We need a rescue out here fast," said the caller.

The county contacted the Coast Guard.

Three Coast Guard boats, one cutter, a helicopter and search plane were dispatched to the area.

They found it about seven miles east of Government Cut; 10 people were clinging to the hull of the overturned 25-foot boat.

After they re-righted the vessel they found four bodies, adult females, underneath. They also found an adult male survived because he had found an air pocket.

The nine men and two surviving females, all from Jamaica, Haiti and the Bahamas, were taken into custody.

Of the eleven survivors, six are facing federal charges ranging from attempted smuggling to returning to the U.S. after being deported.