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NASSAU, April 21 (Reuters) - Rescue crews recovered 15 bodies and three survivors off the coast of the Bahamas, possibly after a migrant-smuggling ship capsized, authorities said on Monday.

The survivors, one Honduran and two Haitians, were found in the water screaming for help in darkness around 15 miles (24 km) northwest of the Bahamas capital Nassau, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

"It's possibly a migrant smuggling case gone wrong," said Coast Guard officer Nick Ameen, adding the survivors were in Bahamian custody.

Ralph McKinney of the Bahamas Defense Force said nine bodies were retrieved on Sunday, six on Monday and eight people remained missing. The U.S. Coast Guard earlier said 20 bodies had been found.

Boats regularly leave Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, carrying migrants to the Bahamas. Reports of drownings are common.

The 20-foot (six-meter) boat carrying around 25 people capsized on its way from Nassau to Bimini in the northern Bahamas, said a woman survivor.

Smugglers follow that route and then often whisk migrants to the U.S. coast aboard fast boats from Bimini, which is 50 miles (80 km) off Florida.

Three U.S. Coast Guard helicopters, the Royal Bahamas Defense Force and its volunteer air-sea rescue service searched for more survivors on Monday, witnesses said.

A crew member from a fishing boat heard cries in the water in the pre-dawn hours on Sunday and notified Bahamian authorities, triggering an air and sea operation, Ameen said.

Another survivor said he and a Haitian man were trying to swim ashore when they were picked up.

Last May, scores of people drowned when a vessel that left Haiti capsized in the Caribbean. (Editing by Matthew Bigg and Alan Elsner)

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