A desperate rescue operation is unfolding in the waters off Puerto Rico after a makeshift vessel carrying 62 people capsized late Sunday night near Mona Island, roughly ten miles off the coast. The U.S. Coast Guard says the disaster began when a fight broke out on board, and a passenger armed with a machete seriously injured several others, sending panicked passengers leaping into the water without life jackets in a desperate bid to swim toward the island. As of Tuesday, Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Doyle had rescued 49 people and transferred them ashore to Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection for further processing. Three people have been confirmed dead, while ten others remain missing as crews continue an intense, multi-agency search across the rough waters of the Mona Passage.

Aerial footage from the operation shows helicopters sweeping low over choppy seas, rescue swimmers dropping into the water, and exhausted survivors clinging to rocky shoreline as they wait to be pulled to safety. Most of those aboard were migrants from the Dominican Republic, with at least two believed to be from Haiti, part of a steady and dangerous flow of people attempting the perilous crossing through the Mona Passage between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. The passage, notorious for its strong currents and unpredictable waters, has claimed countless lives over the years as overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels attempt the journey under cover of darkness. As search crews continue combing the area for the ten still unaccounted for, officials say the operation remains active and the full scope of the tragedy may not be known for some time.