Among those rescued are four minors of Venezuelan nationality, one of them only seven months old.
In 2024, 240 people have been rescued in the department of the Archipelago.
During maritime control and surveillance activities, the Colombian Navy detected, late at night, a boat that was transiting suspiciously 25 nautical miles (46 kilometers) southwest of the island of San Andrés, on the Cayo Albuquerque Island.
Immediately, the Specific Command of San Andrés and Providencia, through the Coast Guard Station, deployed a Rapid Reaction Unit - URR, finding a ship named Yong King with 18 people on board: seven adults and four Venezuelan minors, four adults of Kosovan nationality and a Cuban; in addition to two Colombians, who would be the alleged responsible for driving these people to Central America.
Once the visit procedure was completed, the people were taken to the dock of the Coast Guard Station of San Andrés and put into custody of the authorities. The minors were handed over to the Colombian Family Wellbeing Institute - ICBF for the restoration of their rights, while the two Colombians were arrested for the alleged crime of migrant smuggling and were put into custody of the Attorney General's Office.
It should be noted that the hurricane season still remains in the Atlantic, so adverse weather conditions such as heavy rains, winds and increased sea height that make navigation difficult occur in the Archipelago department.
The Colombian Navy, through the Specific Command of San Andrés and Providencia, calls on people to prevent falling into migrant smuggling networks that put their lives at risk, by sailing without the minimum safety conditions, transiting at unauthorized times or abandoning them in some keys of the department, as happened in two cases last September.
Source: Press – Navy of Colombia
