A helicopter carrying four U.S. customs agents and two Bahamian police officers crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while chasing a speedboat suspected of hauling cocaine, and the search intensified Friday for one agent still missing, customs officials said.
Rescuers from the Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force added vessels and broadened the search area at dawn for the missing customs agent, who officials declined to identify, said Mike Sheehan, a U.S. customs spokesman in Miami."At the last count we had two customs planes, two Coast Guard helicopters and two Air Force aircraft, also one customs vessel, two Coast Guard cutters and the Navy hydrofoil," Sheehan said.
The other five officers were recovered from the water with no apparent injuries shortly after the mishap Thursday night, he said.
"They are very optimistic they will pick up the sixth guy," Sheehan said. All six were able to leave the copter and "sound off" to each other after the crash, he said.