U.S. Coast Guard

"We couldn't believe it, honestly, that he was OK," a pilot said as he described finding a man who spent the night of Hurricane Milton's landfall 30 miles from land.

President Biden has nominated Adm. Linda Fagan to serve as the next commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. Fagan, who has served on all seven continents, is currently the Coast Guard's second-in-command.

Authorities have found a total of five bodies, leaving 34 missing. The Coast Guard says it will call off its active search for survivors at sunset Thursday if it doesn't receive any new information.

The Coast Guard said the missing appear to have been part of a "suspected human smuggling venture" that took off from Bimini, a small island in the Bahamas roughly 55 miles east of Miami.

Severe weather may have caused a 129-foot lift boat to capsize in the Gulf of Mexico about 8 miles south of Port Fourchon. Six people were rescued, one body was recovered and search efforts continue.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the boat's operator failed to heed weather warnings and that previous safety recommendations made by the agency were never implemented.

By registering ships in the Bahamas and other countries, many companies can avoid U.S. laws. The Coast Guard says they should seek medical aid from those countries rather than rely on the U.S.

The National Transportation Safety Board says it has issued almost two dozen safety recommendations in the past 20 years and not all have been implemented.