No less than 11 people lost their lives and about thirty rescued: This is the toll of the sinking of a boat carrying Haitian immigrants.
The tragedy occurred Thursday (May 12, 2022) in Puerto Rico according to the American newspaper Miami Herald citing “federal authorities.”
The ship capsized while the migrants were attempting to enter the United States illegally.
The victims were spotted by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection plane around noon about 15 kilometers off the island of Desecheo in the Mona Passage, reports Miami Herald, which recalls that the Mona Passage is “a dangerous stretch of water between Puerto Rico and the island of Hispaniola,” adding that “The Mona Passage is a common route for illegal voyages of vessels often overloaded with migrants from the Dominican Republic or Haiti heading to Puerto Rico.”
Over a 6-month period, a total of 1308 immigrants without including 940 Dominicans and 298 Haitians were intercepted in Puerto Rico by the US Coast Guard. Puerto Rican customs agents also claim to have apprehended 757 Haitian and 292 Dominican migrants from October to the present, the Miami Herald revealed in an article published yesterday.
Among the deceased are at least 5 women. 31 people, including 11 women and 20 men were rescued, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, which was unable to provide an exact figure on the number of people on board the boat.
The bodies of the deceased were transported to the Forensic Institute of Puerto Rico while the other victims were transported to a hospital near the city of Aguailla, said U.S. authorities.
The search is continuing for possible survivors, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard. “They are on site to try to save as many people as possible,” said Ricardo Castrodad, Miami Herald.
U.S. authorities are urging undocumented immigrants to avoid these types of extremely dangerous trips.
“Migration operations on the high seas are difficult and involve risks for our operators as well as for the occupants of the vessels we are trying to rescue and intercept. Weather, wind, sea conditions are all risk factors for anyone on the water,” said Brendan C. McPherson, director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Southeast Task Force, “We want to prevent the tragic loss of life at sea, and we often look at this mission as conducting a major search and rescue case where someone is actively trying not to be found,” in an interview with the Miami Herald.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)