Dánica Coto (AP) writes that a minimum of 5 Haitian migrants drowned and 68 others had been rescued Thursday after a suspected human smuggling boat dropped the group off in waters close to the uninhabited Mona Island, positioned west of Puerto Rico. Listed here are excerpts from the Washington Submit.
[. . .] The incident is the newest in a string of lethal voyages throughout the northern Caribbean carrying principally Haitian migrants fleeing their nation amid a deepening political and financial disaster and a spike in gang-related killings and kidnappings.
Federal and native authorities searched the realm close to Mona Island for a number of hours after receiving a name from rangers with Puerto Rico’s Division of Pure Sources who first noticed the migrants. Officers decided that no further folks had been lacking, primarily based on interviews with survivors, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad advised The Related Press.
He stated 41 males, 25 ladies and two youngsters survived, including that none had any pressing medical points.
Jeffrey Quiñones, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Safety, stated all migrants aboard the boat had been Haitians.
Most human smuggling boats that carry Haitian migrants to Puerto Rico depart from the neighboring Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Some capsize within the treacherous Mona Passage that separates the 2 islands whereas different boats drop off migrants in tiny uninhabited islands earlier than reaching Puerto Rico.
On this case, the boat carrying the migrants fled the scene, Castrodad stated. The rescue comes simply days after authorities within the Bahamas recovered the our bodies of 17 migrants and rescued 25 extra after their boat capsized early Sunday. A felony investigation is underway. In Might, 11 Haitian ladies drowned and 38 others had been saved after their boat sank close to Puerto Rico. “That is taking place each day,” Castrodad stated. “Everybody runs the identical threat and identical hazard.”
A rising variety of Haitians are fleeing their nation as gangs develop extra highly effective following the July 7, 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. This week alone, authorities blamed gangs for setting a courthouse and a church on hearth as turf wars within the capital of Port-au-Prince intensify. As well as, greater than 470 folks have been killed, injured or disappeared in lower than every week amid gang fights within the close by Cite Soleil slum, based on the United Nations. [. . .]
For full article, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/5-dead-66-migrants-rescued-from-waters-near-puerto-rico/2022/07/28/a1977b18-0e86-11ed-88e8-c58dc3dbaee2_story.html
Additionally see https://lenouvelliste.com/article/237311/5-morts-68-haitiens-secourus-dans-les-eaux-pres-de-porto-rico and https://lainformacion.com.do/exterior/las-antillas/guardia-costera-de-puerto-rico-confirma-son-haitianos-los-cinco-muertos-cerca-de-la-isla-de-mona
[Photo above (Uncredited/Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural Resources): Rescued migrants walk on the shore off Mona Island, west of Puerto Rico, Thursday, July 28, 2022. At least five migrants drowned and dozens others were rescued Thursday after a suspected human smuggling boat dropped the group off in waters near the uninhabited island west of Puerto Rico, officials said.]