Brevard County sees third possible migrant boat wash ashore in just two months

MELBOURNE BEACH, Fla. - Three makeshift boats that likely carried migrants have washed up in Brevard County in the past couple of months. While it's not uncommon to see it in south Florida, it's much rarer that far up the coast.

In Melbourne Beach, the most recent boat has been washed ashore for days. On the front, it has the name, "El Milagro" or "The Miracle" in Spanish.

"Over the past about two months, this is the third," said Matt Culver, who runs the boating and waterways program in Brevard County. "There was one just up the beach in Melbourne, the City of Melbourne Beach, and another up in Satellite Beach before that."

In the most recent boat to land, you can still see hats and clothing inside.

The U.S. Coast Guard tells FOX 35 News that sometimes when boats end up that far north, it's because they took people off while at sea, and cut the boat loose after marking it.

But the "El Milagro" has no markings and a spokesperson for the Coast Guard said they did not recognize the boat.

The Coast Guard regularly stops boats like it while going from Cuba to south Florida.

Since the start of October, a spokesperson told FOX 35 they have intercepted more than 2,200 people coming from Cuba.

The boat could be sitting in Melbourne Beach for a while since Hurricane Nicole washed away sand and left a steep cliff where a tractor could usually come in and pull it away.

For now, it's another unusual site for regulars at the beach.

"I’m just thinking about what we all go through, and really you can’t even compare it," said Kathleen Evans while looking at the boat. "And hopefully they survived."