(Port-au-Prince) The bodies of seventeen Haitian migrants were found dead and 25 other people were rescued at sea during a rescue operation that continued on Sunday after the sinking of a ship off the coast of Bahamas, announced the Bahamian and Haitian authorities.
Updated yesterday at 7:56 p.m.
The boat which “would have capsized in the face of rough seas”, according to the press release issued by Prime Minister Philip Davis, left the most populated island of the archipelago “with around 60 people on board”.
“It is believed that their final destination was Miami, Florida,” said the head of the Bahamian government.
“Seventeen compatriots died off the Bahamas and several (have) disappeared on July 24. This new tragedy saddens the entire nation,” Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry tweeted.
The Bahamas, an archipelago of 700 islets (39 of which are inhabited) located 80 km southeast of the coast of Florida and north of Cuba, are regularly used as a transit land by migrants seeking to reach the United States. .
In Haiti, a country plagued by gang crime, where nearly half the population suffers from food insecurity, many residents regularly try to reach Florida illegally by sea, often stopping in the Bahamas or the islands. Turks and Caicos, under British authority.
“I understand that the situation that many of these migrants are facing encourages them to take such great risks,” said Philip Davis, who called “however those who are considering making such a trip, not to do so”.