MIAMI — Nine Cuban migrants died at sea and 18 others were rescued by a cruise ship after their boat was found off the Florida coast, the Coast Guard said.

The migrants were severely dehydrated when they were found Friday and said they had been at sea for 22 days. The bodies of those who didn’t make it were placed overboard, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Mark Barney. The survivors were in bad condition.

“They could barely walk off the vessel itself,” Barney said. “They were weak and they were shaking.”

The rescue by the Royal Caribbean ship took place about 130 miles west of Marco Island in southwest Florida. The migrants were in a “rustic” boat that was about 30 feet long, Barney said.

They were found by the cruise ship Brilliance of the Seas. Royal Caribbean reported the event to the Coast Guard and made the decision to bring the migrants to its next port of call, Cozumel, Mexico.

The rescue comes as President Obama travels to Cuba to meet with President Raul Castro for a visit that begins Sunday. The trip is part of Obama’s efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. While the United States has eased travel restrictions to the island, many Cubans still risk their lives to reach the United States.

“The Coast Guard has observed a steady increase in illegal maritime migration attempts from Cuba to the southeastern U.S. since the U.S. announcement of normalized diplomatic relations with Cuba in December 2014,” the Coast Guard said in a news release. Last month, 269 Cuban migrants tried to reach U.S. shores and about 2,420 have tried to reach the United States by sea since last October.

On the same day Royal Caribbean rescued the group it found, the Coast Guard returned 42 other migrants to Cuba after they were picked up in the Florida Straits in two separate incidents earlier in the week.

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