A small, unoccupied boat was found on the shores of Hollywood Beach Thursday morning.
The makeshift boat, which appeared to be made from Styrofoam and wood, was filled with water bottles and had orange markings on it.
Deanna Bettineschi, the public information manager for the Hollywood Beach Police Department, said the Public Works Department received a call about the boat north of Sheridan Street and Hollywood North Beach Park and came to pick it up. She said they couldn’t make out the markings on the side of the boat and didn’t know where it had come from.
The Coast Guard had not received word of the raft washing ashore.
A Twitter user who posted pictures of the raft at 8:15 a.m. theorized it had come from Cuba, although this hasn’t been confirmed.
Ana Beaumier, who lives in a nearby condo, spotted the raft on the beach and stepped into the water to take a look. Beaumier emigrated to the U.S. from Cuba in 1961.
“It washed ashore at Freedom Street,” she said. “I hope they made it.”
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