SABANA DE LA MAR, Dominican Republic • Rescuers recovered 17 bodies and pulled 13 survivors from white-capped waters off this coastal town after an overloaded boat carrying migrants from the Dominican Republic capsized, officials said Sunday.

Luis Castro, intelligence director of the Dominican Navy, said the bodies of 12 men and five women were found in choppy waters. The suspected captain of the boat was being questioned by investigators, he said.

The number of the dead was expected to go up as Dominican rescuers in two army boats and a firefighter's vessel were joined by local fishermen in a search for at least 40 more migrants pitched overboard early Saturday when the boat heading for neighboring Puerto Rico capsized.

Survivors said dozens of people plunged into the water, grabbing at anything that might help keep them afloat.

The illegal migrants apparently were all Dominicans, but authorities could not rule out that a few Cubans or Haitians might also have been on the boat. Survivors said there were no children aboard.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which had helped Dominican rescuers by sea and air since mid-Saturday, suspended its search at noon Sunday "after Dominican authorities said they no longer needed our assistance," said Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad in Puerto Rico.

Arismendy Manzueta, 28, a farmer from the northern town of La Jagua who survived the journey, said the hopes of better economic prospects in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico made him risk his life aboard the overloaded boat. Puerto Rico is a common destination for Dominican migrants.

"Things are very bad here. A person works and works and never has nothing," Manzueta said in a public hospital in Sabana de la Mar.

Maria Sobeida Guzman, 28, a mother of three who also survived the journey, said she paid just over $1,000 for the illegal trip to Puerto Rico, where a cousin promised to get her a job giving manicures.

Guzman said there was no warning when the boat overturned and began to break apart. She remembered swimming for the shore with every bit of strength she had.

Survivors told the northern region's public prosecutor, Fremy Reyes, that the boat overturned about four hours after setting sail Friday just before midnight.

Thousands of Dominicans try to reach Puerto Rico in open boats that are ill-suited to the journey across the 160-mile Mona Passage. Haitians and Cubans also regularly attempt the passage.