Billions lack drinking water, handwashing facilities and toilets

Li Cohen 


It's been more than a year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Many countries have started to recover as vaccines continue to become more readily available, but for much of the globe, one vital component to life remains inaccessible: Access to safe drinking water.

© Carlos Becerra / Getty Images Daily Life in Venezuela's Toughest Slum During Coronavirus Outbreak

At a United Nations meeting on Thursday to address water-related goals and targets as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations General Assembly president Volkan Bozkir said that, at this point, the world has committed a "moral failure" in getting everyone access to safe drinking water.


Bozkir made his point with startling statistics about the state of global water access: Roughly a third of the entire world's population, 2.2 billion people, do not have access to clean drinking water, he said.

Along with inadequate access to hydration, he said billions of people also lack access to proper sanitation resources. More than 2 billion people don't have a "decent toilet of their own," and 3 billion don't have "basic hand washing facilities."

The data Bozkir cited was found in a 2019 report by UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

"If I may be candid: it is a moral failure that we live in a world with such high levels of technical innovation and success, but we continue to allow billions of people to exist without clean drinking water or the basic tools to wash their hands," Bozkir said.

"We live in an era of technological miracles. We are on track to create driverless cars, robots & artificial intelligence," he later tweeted. "So, how is it possible that we are off track to ensure that everyone in the world has sustainably managed water and sanitation?"

According to the U.N.'s sustainable development goals, most of the people affected by these lack of resources are in rural areas. If leaders fail to make water and sanitation measures more accessible to the billions of people impacted, the UN has said, "COVID-19 will not be stopped."

"The fact that billions of people have had to face this pandemic without basic hand-washing facilities and that health providers in some of the Least Developed Countries do not have running water is impossible to reconcile," Bozkir said, "especially when we live in a world of such abundance and of such profound innovation."

Inadequate water and sanitation is fatal, even aside from the pandemic. Nearly 1,000 children die every day because of illnesses they develop from a lack of these resources, according to the U.N.

The U.N. agenda has laid out eight goals to rectify the situation. Along with establishing universal and equitable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, the organization intends to improve water quality through environmental measures, increase water-use efficiency, establish an integrated management plan for water resources, protect water ecosystems, expand internal cooperation, and strengthen support in communities.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said Thursday at the meeting that as of now, the world is not on track to meet those goals.

"To achieve universal access to water and sanitation, the current rate of progress would need to quadruple," she said. "Moreover, the planetary crisis, including the interlinked threats of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, will increase water scarcity. By 2040, one in four of the world's children under 18 — some 600 million — will be living in areas of extremely high-water stress."

She recommended that as countries commit to plans for pandemic recovery, they intertwine those plans with the Sustainable Development Goals and address inadequate water and sanitation access. She also urged that governments focus on preventing water-related natural disasters and focus on empowering women's leadership in the development of a green economy.

Bozkir recommended that governments also focus on addressing these issues with the help of the communities they govern, and listen to organizations who are fighting for similar goals.

"Water is life," Bozkir said. "We simply cannot live on this planet — and certainly not in any healthy capacity — if we are deprived of this most basic human need. Our entire agricultural system — all of the food we consume — is dependent upon water supplies. The same extends to all other life on this planet. Every ecosystem, every species, depends upon water."

"Our discussion is not just about liquid in a bottle," he said. "It is about dignity...opportunity...our health and our ability to survive."

CBS News' Pamela Falk contributed to this report.

Space junk removal: Mission to clean up debris with magnets set for launch

By Katie Hunt, CNN 3/19/2021


It's invisible in the night sky, but above us there is a cloud of more than 9,000 tons of space junk -- equivalent to the weight of 720 school buses.

© Courtesy Astroscale The spacecraft and the 17-kilogram dummy satellite -- the debris to be cleaned up -- will separate and then perform a high-stakes game of cat and mouse over the next few months.

This debris is composed of parts of old satellites as well as entire defunct satellites and rocket bodies. The debris poses risks to the International Space Station and threatens things we take for granted on Earth -- weather forecasting, GPS and telecommunications. It's a problem that's getting worse with more and more satellites being launched each year by ventures like Elon Musk's SpaceX.


A demonstration mission to test new technology developed by the company Astroscale to clean up space debris is set to launch in the early hours of Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

A Soyuz 2 rocket will launch a 175-kilogram spacecraft with a satellite attached into space. The spacecraft and the 17-kilogram satellite -- the debris to be cleaned up -- will separate and then perform a high-stakes game of cat and mouse over the next few months.

Astroscale will test the spacecraft's ability to snatch a satellite and bring it down toward the Earth's atmosphere, where it will burn up. It will do this in a series of different maneuvers, with the mission expected to end in September or October of this year.

As part of the mission, the company will test whether the spacecraft can catch and dock with the satellite as it tumbles through space at up to 17,500 miles per hour -- several times faster than the speed of a bullet.

The tests rely on a magnetic docking plate to latch onto the satellite. Astroscale said it hopes all new satellites being launched will ultimately have this docking plate, allowing them to be safely removed at the end of their life span. What's more, Astroscale said it had already signed a deal with internet satellite company OneWeb.

"Now is the time to take the threat of debris seriously by committing to debris removal programs and preparing satellites for future removal at their end of life," said John Auburn, managing director of Astroscale UK and group chief commercial officer.

"Avoiding catastrophic collisions will help to protect the space ecosystem and ensure all orbits can continue to thrive sustainably for generations to come."

Astroscale is headquartered in Japan but the mission is being controlled from the United Kingdom.

Nets, harpoons and robotic  arms

The technology being tested in this mission targets the removal of satellites yet to be launched and doesn't address the problem of debris already in space. However, the company is working with JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, on its first debris removal project.

Other space agencies, institutions and companies are also working on technology to remove space junk.

ClearSpace 1, the European Space Agency's mission to remove space junk from orbit, is expected to launch in 2025. This mission will use four robotic arms to capture the debris.

A 2018 demonstration mission successfully deployed a net to ensnare space junk, the first successful demonstration of space cleanup technology. The RemoveDebris experiment is run by a consortium of companies and researchers led by the UK's Surrey Space Centre and includes Airbus, Airbus-owned Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. and France's Ariane Group. It has also tried a method using a harpoon.

There are at least 26,000 pieces of space junk orbiting the Earth that are the size of a softball or larger and could destroy a satellite on impact; over 500,000 the size of a marble big enough to cause damage to spacecraft or satellites; and over 100 million pieces of debris the size of a grain of salt that could puncture a spacesuit, according to a January report by NASA.

In fact, the report said, the bits of space junk that are most dangerous to spacecraft and satellites are often the smallest because they are too small to be detected, and operators aren't able to maneuver to avoid them.

© Courtesy Astroscale The mission will last for about six months.

Environmentalists Say Turkish Wastewater Lake Could Cause an Environmental Disaster

Imperial Oil urges shareholders to reject 'premature' net-zero 2050 carbon motion

CALGARY — Imperial Oil Ltd.. is recommending investors attending its annual meeting in May vote against a shareholder resolution that it adopt a corporate wide target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The motion, made by Aequo Shareholder Engagement Services on behalf of Quebec group retirement system Batirente, argues that Imperial's current 2023 emissions reduction target is a step in the right direction but that it is also important to have a long-term strategy.

In its notice of meeting, however, Imperial recommends voting down the proposal because, although it supports initiatives to control global warming, it is "premature" to set targets before it has a concrete plan for how to reach them.

The company says it has a portfolio of technologies at various stages of commercialization that could be employed, including the use of solvents to produce bitumen from oilsands wells with less energy and using carbon capture and storage to create emission offsets.

It says it is intent on its current goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 10 per cent by 2023 relative to 2016 levels.

Batirente CEO Daniel Simard says all companies, especially those in the energy sector, have to align their strategies with the Paris Agreement and reduce their emissions by 2050.

“Our climate commitment as unveiled in autumn 2020, aims to both alleviate the cause of climate warming, through the reduction of GHG emissions, and mitigate its consequences, by building resilience," he said in a news release.

“It is important for Batirente to meet its fiduciary responsibility by taking measures to optimally allocate the capital entrusted to us.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:IMO)

The Canadian Press

No Good Evidence That 5G Harms Humans, New Studies Find

Ed Cara 

Concerns over the potential harms of 5G technology are overblown, according to two large new reviews of research recently published by scientists in Australia. Both found no clear evidence that the type of radiofrequency energy used by 5G mobile networks poses any danger to human health.

5G is the next generation of wireless communication. It enables faster speeds and lower latency than LTE, and while we’re already seeing that in action on 5G phones, it’ll take years before 5G’s potential to transform industries like autonomous cars becomes a reality.

© Photo: William West/AFP (Getty Images) 

Public service announcement posters deployed last year in Melborne, Australia.

The State of 5G in 2021: Are We There Yet?

That delayed promise hasn’t stopped some people from warning that 5G will only accelerate the harms purportedly caused by our existing use of wireless technology. The evidence for any health risks from our cell phones today isn’t particularly strong, but it’s still something scientists are keeping an eye on. In particular, there have been many studies in the lab and on animals trying to figure how varying levels of radiofrequency energy could possibly affect the body, including the sort of energy that would be emitted by 5G networks.

The two new papers are the work of researchers from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) and the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia. Both were published this week in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology and are billed as the first reviews to focus on 5G specifically.

Aside from looking at animal and lab experiments, one review also analyzed epidemiological studies of radar, which uses the same sort of RF (low-level energy fields above 6 gigahertz to as high as 300 GHz) that 5G is expected to rely on. Their conclusions, based on reviewing data from over 100 studies, should be reassuring.

“In conclusion, a review of all the studies provided no substantiated evidence that low-level radio waves, like those used by the 5G network, are hazardous to human health,” said Ken Karipidis, assistant director of assessment and advice at ARPANSA, in a statement released by the agency.

The second review, which focused on RF energy specifically in the millimeter wave (MMW) band, which 5G will use, also found no link between low levels of MMW exposure and health effects. According to the researchers, both findings are just more evidence that cell phones today and in the near future will continue to emit levels of RF well below the safety thresholds established by the International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) that have been adopted worldwide.

No, a Study Didn't Just Prove That Cellphones Cause Brain Cancer

Some studies did find plausible biological effects from this sort of RF exposure. But importantly, these studies usually weren’t replicated by other, similar experiments. Overall, most of the studies they reviewed were deemed to be low quality, Karipidis and his team concluded.

All that said, these reviews won’t be the final word on vetting the safety of 5G and cell phone radiation in general. And the researchers hope their work will help strengthen the ongoing research looking into it.

“We recommend that future experimental studies improve their design with particular attention to dosimetry and temperature control and that future epidemiological studies continue to monitor long-term health effects in the population related to wireless telecommunications,” said Karipidis.

Is it snowing microplastics in Siberia? 

Russia scientists take samples‎

‎
‎MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian scientists are trying to understand the scale of a potential threat to the environment in Siberia: snow polluted with microplastics that then melts and seeps into the ground. ‎

‎

© Reuters/Siberian Microplastics centre of Microplastic particles found in snow samples taken in Siberia are seen through a microscope in Tomsk‎

‎Scientists at Tomsk State University (TSU) say they have gathered snow samples from 20 different Siberian regions - from the Altai mountains to the Arctic - and that their preliminary findings confirm that airborne plastic fibres are turning up in snow in remote parts of the wilderness.

 ‎‎

© Reuters/Siberian Microplastics centre of A researcher carries snow samples collected to investigate microplastic pollution levels in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region‎

‎"It's clear that it's not just rivers and seas that are involved circulating microplastics around the world, but also soil, living creatures and even the atmosphere," Yulia Frank, scientific director at TSU's Microplastics Siberia centre, told Reuters. ‎

‎Microplastics, which are created when bigger pieces of plastic litter break up over time, are increasingly being found in the air, food, drinking water and even Arctic ice. Scientists are increasingly worried they may pose a risk to human health and marine life, though there is no consensus yet on the issue. ‎‎

© Reuters/Siberian Microplastics centre of Researchers collect snow samples to investigate microplastic pollution levels in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region‎

‎Video: How putting particles in the stratosphere might just slow global warming 

‎Tomsk scientists have previously found microplastics in the digestive systems of fish caught in Siberian rivers, confirming that they are contributing to polluting the Arctic Ocean with plastic. ‎

‎"Siberia is absolutely under-researched in this aspect and our (Russia's) interest in this problem comes late compared to the rest of the world," Frank said. ‎

‎Scientists are now studying the snow samples to understand to what degree population density, the proximity of roads and other human activity contributes to the pollution. ‎

‎(Reporting by Dmitry Turlyun; Writing by Maria Vasilyeva; Editing by Alex Richardson)‎

Bakery owner frustrated employees were denied Alberta's critical worker benefit

BECAUSE INCOMPETENT UCP IGNORED FED FUNDS FOR WORKERS 

UNTIL THE NDP ASKED THEM ABOUT IT 

Lisa Johnson 

An Edmonton bakery owner says he was surprised to find his application for Alberta’s critical worker benefit program denied despite the government listing bakers as eligible.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Simon Underwood, co-owner of Doughnut Party, says his attempt to get his workers the one-time $1,200 payments was turned down because doughnuts are not considered as essential as bread.

Simon Underwood, co-owner of Doughnut Party, says his attempt to get his workers the one-time $1,200 payments was turned down because doughnuts are not considered as essential as bread.

“Where is this particular piece of criteria coming from, and why is it being used to disqualify our staff?” said Underwood, who added if the program had used all the money, that would be fine — but that’s not what he was told.

He said the experience was “uniquely frustrating,” since the rules weren’t clearly outlined and seemed to be an arbitrary splitting of hairs.

“Were people not supposed to have any treats? Is pizza essential food or non-essential food?” said Underwood.

The application portal for private workers is set to be closed by Friday, but many workers who were once listed as eligible have already found out they will not receive it because that criteria has since been narrowed.

At first, the government’s website listed “truck transportation” occupations as eligible, but when more details of the program were released and the application portal opened, it specified only those involved with the delivery of food and medical supplies could access the cash.

When the program was announced Feb. 10 , the province said more than 380,000 frontline workers would receive the one-time payments. The province would pitch in $118 million towards the total $465-million benefit cost, shared with the federal government.

Since the opening of applications a week later on Feb 17, questions have swirled about why essential workers like food delivery drivers, retailers, restaurant employees and taxi drivers were not included.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Labour Minister Jason Copping said the government considers critical workers those who provided specific supports in health care and those in the private sector supporting food and medicine supply chains.

Labour Minister Jason Copping said at an estimates committee last week that the program had to differentiate between essential and critical workers because there was limited funding. The government considers critical workers those who provided specific supports in health care and those in the private sector supporting food and medicine supply chains, Copping said.

“We wanted to design a program that worked for Alberta,” said Copping, who added that a large majority of Alberta’s workforce was designated as essential.

“I thank all workers who continued to work throughout the pandemic — they’ve come to work and done an incredible job,” he said.

As of March 10, the program had received 6,930 calls and 9,284 applications, although department officials were unable to confirm how many applications or employees had been denied. Copping’s office did not provide updated numbers or comment as of press time Thursday.

At a Thursday news conference, NDP labour critic Christina Gray again called on the government to fill the gaps in the program that she said was denying thousands of deserving workers.

“It seems to me that it was rolled out quickly, without consultation with workers, without reflecting what’s happening on the ground in this pandemic,” said Gray.

Gray was joined by taxi industry representatives who said they were insulted to have been left out of the benefit.

Taxi driver Sardar Rashid Yousaf said the rules were unfair to drivers on the front lines of the pandemic.

“If somebody is sick, who would they pick? If somebody goes to the hospital, who would they pick? So we are taking a risk on our life,” he said.

On Wednesday, the federal government finally confirmed the province would receive the $347 million the province had announced for the critical worker benefit.

Katherine Cuplinskas, press secretary to federal Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, said in an email Wednesday Ottawa had provided $30 million and would be providing $317 million as part of a plan originally billed as a wage top-up for essential workers.

“We are pleased that Alberta requested this additional funding to help those who have been on the front lines of the pandemic for over a year. Albertans deserve this financial support in recognition of their hard work and sacrifice,” said Cuplinskas.

Copping has said the majority of the province’s money would be out the door before the end of the month.

lijohnson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/reportrix

For more on Alberta’s vaccine rollout, read our guide driven by reader questions.

Downed Iran UKRAINE plane: Families of Edmonton victims demand real truth in wake of final report

Chris Chacon 

GLOBAL NEWS

3/18/2021

Unsettling reaction poured in Thursday after the final report into the downing of Ukraine Airlines flight PS752 was released.

© Chris Chacon/Global News Image of Amir Hossein Saeedinia parents.

More than a year later, the victims' families — even the Transportation Safety Board of Canada — are left with more questions than answers.

"I'm still waiting for her, honestly. I haven't believed that she's really gone.

"It's just a long nightmare," said Javad Soleimani, husband of Elnaz Nabiy, who was on flight PS752.

Ever since Soleimani lost his wife, he's been looking for answers.

The final report from Iran’s civil aviation body blamed “human error” as the reason why the Revolutionary Guard shot down a jetliner minutes after it took off from Tehran on Jan. 8 last year.

All 176 people on board were killed, including 55 Canadian citizens, 30 permanent residents and dozens of others bound for Canada. Thirteen of those people called Edmonton home.

Read more: TSB says Iran report on downing of flight PS752 explains what happened, but doesn't say why

The report didn’t provide a detailed explanation or evidence about the underlying factors that caused Iran’s military to fire two surface-to-air missiles at Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.

Canada’s TSB says Iran’s final report on Ukrainian flight 752 ‘incomplete’

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board says Iranian officials failed to provide evidence that a passenger jet was shot down by mistake early last year, leaving key questions unanswered as Iran’s military effectively investigated itself.

It is unusual for the TSB to comment on the results of a report into an incident that took place in another country.

READ MORE: Victims’ loved ones say Iranian report into downing of Ukrainian flight 752 lacks details

"All of the families of the victims are stuck on Jan. 8 because we didn't have any closure, we don't know exactly what happened that night," Soleimani said.

Soleimani and other families now forced to confront their grief again after Iran issued its final report.

Parents of University of Alberta mechanical engineering PhD student Amir Hossein Saeedinia, who also died on the flight, said the report is unacceptable.

"I read it page by page, it was a torture to me every page that I read. Their lies to attempt to hide the truth, it made me sad, I cried," Amir's father Masoud Saeedinia said.

Video: Flight PS752: Remembering the victims of the Iran plane crash

READ MORE: UN investigator says questions remain over whether Iran intentionally downed Ukraine jet

Iran's report echoes what the Iranian government has claimed for a year that human error caused the tragedy.

"It does not explain any of the underlying factors behind why the missiles were launched at PS752, which is the stated cause of the accident," Transportation Safety Board Chair Kathy Fox said.


"In short, the report says what happened but it doesn't answer the why."

The families said they believe the attack was intentional, but want to know why it happened. They want the Canadian government, Ukraine and other countries to take this matter to the International Court of Justice for real answers.

Read more: Iran plane crash, one year later: 13 victims with ties to Edmonton remembered as brilliant, loving

The Canadian government also appointed a special group of investigators to look into this crash. They are acting separately from the TSB, and are expected to file a report in the coming weeks.

Video: Iran plane crash report explains what happened, but doesn’t say why: TSB

— With files from Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

The cofounders of bankrupt poop-testing startup uBiome have been charged with fraud

💩💩💩
lramsey@businessinsider.com (Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer)

3/18/2021

© Provided by Business Insider UBiome founders and former co-CEOs Zachary Apte and Jessica Richman. uBiome; Yutong Yuan/Business Insider

The SEC has charged uBiome cofounders Jessica Richman and Zachary Apte with fraud.

Richman and Apte also face criminal charges related to the poop-testing startup uBi.

uBiome was a microbiome-testing startup that shut down in 2019 after an FBI raid.

Jessica Richman and Zachary Apte, the cofounders of the now shuttered microbiome company uBiome, are facing criminal and civil charges stemming from their efforts to build uBiome into a poop-testing powerhouse.

The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Richman and Apte defrauded investors out of $60 million by giving a false impression of how well the company was doing. The married cofounders are also facing criminal charges in federal court in California. They were indicted on Thursday on charges including healthcare fraud and wire fraud, as well as related conspiracy charges.

The SEC complaint alleged Richman, 46, and Apte, 36, portrayed uBiome as receiving health-insurance reimbursements for its tests, which tested poop samples for different conditions related to gut health. The complaint alleged the cofounders made millions as uBiome raised money from investors.

"We allege that Richman and Apte touted uBiome as a successful and fast-growing biotech pioneer while hiding the fact that the company's purported success depended on deceit," Erin Schneider, the director of the SEC's San Francisco regional office, said in a statement.

[Gallery] A Single Photo Almost Derailed This Pole Vaulter’s Promising CareerSEE MORESponsored by NEW ARENA


uBiome is the latest Silicon Valley biotech to be accused of tricking investors. The now shuttered blood-testing company Theranos in 2018 settled with the SEC over allegations of "massive fraud." Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was charged with fraud and is expected to appear in court this summer.© Hollis Johnson / Business Insider The microbiome-testing company uBiome came under scrutiny after an FBI raid. Hollis Johnson / Business Insider
uBiome morphed from science project to venture-backed startup

uBiome was founded in 2012 on the promise of helping ordinary people understand the bacteria living in and on them, known as their microbiome.

The company morphed from citizen science project to venture-backed startup, taking in $105 million from investors and reaching a valuation of $600 million.

Then the troubles began. The FBI raided the company in April 2019. By the end of June that year, the company's top leadership and many of its board members had departed. In October 2019, the company said it was shutting down in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.

The complaints paint a detailed picture of how uBiome got health-insurance companies to cover its tests using what prosecutors say was deception.

The SEC complaint alleged the uBiome founders duped doctors into ordering tests. uBiome built out a portal that connected patients with doctors who could order the test. The complaint alleged the network of doctors was designed to get doctors to order the two medical tests uBiome offered and prescribe based only on an online question form.
How uBiome got health insurers to pay for its tests

The civil complaint also alleged the company fooled doctors into retesting old samples. The criminal complaint alleged that uBiome worked to "re-sequence" existing samples by telling consumers that there had been newer versions of uBiome's test. By doing so, the complaint alleged, uBiome could increase the number of billable claims, all while using an existing sample.

By using this network of doctors, uBiome was often able to get reimbursements from insurers.

The criminal complaint alleged uBiome tricked insurers into paying for tests that weren't medically necessary or properly vetted by medical regulators. In some cases, the company faked documents by using the names of doctors and other healthcare workers without their knowledge, prosecutors said.

But the insurers were catching on to uBiome.

According to the SEC complaint, at least 18 insurers had sent the company letters about its billing practices by April 2019. The criminal complaint alleged that Apte and Richman didn't tell investors about the questions insurers were asking.

What's more, the complaint alleged that Apte and Richman "had to falsify documents and lie to insurance providers in order to attempt to keep them at bay."
Read the original article on Business Insider

US EMBARGO KILLS

Cuban migrants are increasingly embarking on treacherous sea journeys as the economic crisis worsens

By Patrick Oppmann, CNN 

3/19/2021

When Beatriz Jimenez closes her eyes, she sees her daughter and two young grandchildren and they are alive.

© U.S. Coast Guard Coast Guard Station Islamorada law enforcement crew interdicts a migrant boat with 7 migrants, Islamorada, Florida, March 2, 2021. The migrants were repatriated to Cuba.

Jimenez's family left the small seaside town of Cabarién, on Cuba's north coast, on March 4, aboard a packed smuggler's boat.


The boat had come from Florida and picked up a group of Cubans desperate to reach the US, according to a statement from the Cuban foreign ministry.

The smuggling run violated both US and Cuban laws and put the passengers' lives at risk. Although the communist-run island is only 90 nautical miles from the US, the weather in the Florida Straits is treacherous, particularly in the spring when "Easter winds," as Cubans call seasonal abrupt shifts in weather, can transform the sea into a frothing monster.

Jimenez said her daughter Lisbethy took the trip because she had been apart from her husband in Florida for more than a year, after the pandemic forced Cuba to cut most international flights. Lisbethy had been afraid to leave her daughter Kenna Mariana, 6 years old, and Luis Nesto, 4, behind in Cuba and risk a lengthy separation.

"My daughter is a good mother. She wouldn't have done this if everything wasn't safe. She wouldn't have put them through this. Her children are everything to her," Jimenez told CNN from the small room full of toys that her daughter had shared with the children.

According to the Cuban foreign ministry statement, the smugglers made the migrants switch boats once they reached Bahamian waters, likely to try and confuse any Coast Guard ships that could be in pursuit.

As the second boat sped north, it lost control and capsized. It is not clear how many people were aboard.

Some 14 hours later, a Royal Bahamian Defence ship found 12 survivors and one dead body, according to a Bahamian government statement. Lisbethy and her children were not among them.

Jimenez said relatives in Florida, who had contacted survivors in the Bahamas, later told her the smugglers had not brought life vests for any of the passengers.

As Cuba's economic crisis worsens, US Coast Guard officials say they are seeing more Cubans attempting the dangerous journey by boat.

Since October 1, the Coast Guard has intercepted 90 Cubans at sea, according to spokesman Brandon Murray. That number already surpasses the 49 Cuban migrants the previous fiscal year and does not account for many migrants who may arrive in third countries like the Bahamas or who successfully reach the US.

In February, a small boat carrying eight Cubans, including two pregnant women, capsized as it reached the Florida coast after 16 days at sea.

The same month, the US Coast guard rescued three Cubans who had been living mostly off coconuts after being stranded on a deserted island in the Bahamas for 33 days.

While so far the numbers of Cuban migrants taking to the seas are far less than the rafters crisis of the 1990's, when thousands of people attempted the dangerous crossing by boat, the increase is raising alarms.

"The Coast Guard does not recommend anyone taking to the seas in vessels that are not seaworthy. The vessels are often overloaded, the seas are unpredictable and the risk of loss of life is too great," the US Coast Guard said in a statement provided to CNN.

Most Cubans caught entering the US now are returned to the island, after President Obama, in his final days in office in 2017, canceled the "Wet Foot, Dry Foot' policy that allowed those who reached the country to remain.

According to figures released by the Coast Guard. 5,396 Cubans were interdicted in the fiscal year of 2016. That number dropped to 1,468 the next fiscal year, following Obama's policy change, and since then has stayed in the hundreds.

But a worsening economic climate could push more Cubans to make the desperate voyage, despite having lost their preferential status. In 2020, the economy shrank by 11%, according to Cuban government figures, as the island's tourism industry was almost entirely shut down by the pandemic.

That followed a series of punishing sanctions by the Trump administration -- the toughest in decades -- that included returning Cuba to the list of countries that support terrorism, limiting US citizens' ability to travel to the island and cutting off channels for Cuban-Americans to send remittances to relatives there.

"Remittances basically determine who can eat and who can't," said Ernesto Gonzalez, whose remittances company Vacuba was impacted by the Trump sanctions. Gonzalez said he is urging the Biden administration to restore the money transfer services before Cubans face a humanitarian crisis.

Desperate circumstances

Increasingly Cubans wait in hours-long lines to buy food, which they must pay for in US dollars at many Cuban government-run stores.

Without tourists, restaurants and home rentals opened by Cuban entrepreneurs sit empty. Many Cubans compare the ongoing crisis to the dark years the island experienced following the collapse of their ally the Soviet Union in 1991, when tens of thousands of Cubans fled to the US by boat and raft.

The Biden administration has said it is studying potential changes to its Cuba policy, including determining how scores of US diplomats working at the US Embassy became ill. The mysterious health incidents led the State Department in 2017 to pull most of their diplomats from the island and shut down embassy services through which Cubans could receive US visas.

According to a State Department report, as of November 2020, more than 78,000 Cubans were on a waiting list for immigrant visas.

Beatriz Jimenez said her daughter had hoped to apply for a visa to reunite with her husband in the US but as the embassy closure and disruption caused by the pandemic dragged on, she could not wait any longer.

As Jimenez held a vigil with neighbors and relatives for her missing family, she prayed for word of their rescue.

"They are alive. I know it because I believe in God. I know it will be a miracle," she said. "I am desperate but clinging to the idea that we will have an answer."

But ten days after their disappearance, the Cuban government announced it was suspending the search operation. Jimenez still does not know what became of her daughter and grandchildren.

The children and their mother had vanished into the sea.

© Patrick Oppmann/CNN Jimenez holds a picture of her grandchildren Kenna Mariana, 6, and Luis Nesto, 4