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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Tom Phillips Latin America correspondent

‘It’s Russian roulette’: migrants describe nightmarish route across Florida Straits

United States Florida Florida Straits Bahamas
More than 100 migrants aboard a 35-ft sailing vessel is interdicted by the Coast Guard about 12 miles east of Biscayne Bay, Florida, on 16 September 2021.
More than 100 migrants aboard a 35-ft sailing vessel is interdicted by the US Coast Guard about 12 miles east of Biscayne Bay, Florida, on 16 September 2021. Photograph: Us Coast Guard/Reuters

Those who survive the perilous sea crossing between the Bahamas and the US describe a nightmarish odyssey of vomit, sweat and fear.

“It’s suicide – Russian roulette,” one Brazilian migrant recalled in a 2017 interview after at least a dozen fellow countrymen vanished while attempting the same illegal voyage across the Florida Straits.

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