( dpa ) - The bodies of 20 Haitian emigrants whose boat capsized off the coast of the Bahamas have been recovered, the US Coast Guard said Monday. Three survivors have been rescued, and a search mission was underway to find one other passenger from the boat that flipped over Saturday night, said Jennifer Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard in Miami. The Coast Guard has deployed a cutter patrol boat, a helicopter and jet airplane to assist Bahamian authorities in the search, she said. A handful of private vessels were also participating, she said. Haitians, whose country is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, frequently take risky sea voyages seeking refuge in the United States or another country. Violent riots against soaring food prices recently plagued the island and prompted a change in government. The accident took place about 24 kilometres in the waters off the Bahamian capital Nassau, Johnson said.