Haiti | At least 40 dead in migrant boat fire

(Port-au-Prince) At least 40 migrants died when their boat caught fire off the coast of Haiti, a UN agency announced Friday, with witnesses explaining that the tragedy was caused by a voodoo ritual.

The tragedy that occurred on Wednesday once again illustrates the scale of the crisis affecting the poor Caribbean country, undermined by gangs and insecurity, where hundreds of thousands of people are displaced.

According to survivors, the fire started when a passenger lit a candle to perform a voodoo ceremony, while there was gasoline on board, a Haitian police spokesman told AFP.

Voodoo rites are sometimes practiced by migrants taking to the sea in order to protect their crossing and avoid the coast guard.

The ship, which was carrying “more than 80 people” left Labadie, in northern Haiti, on Wednesday for the Turks and Caicos Islands, an archipelago located 250 kilometers away, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The Haitian coastguard rescued 41 migrants who were taken into care by the IOM. Eleven people were taken to hospital for treatment, including for burns, the UN agency said.

Seven injured people are in serious condition, said Arold Jean, spokesman for the Haitian police in the North department, describing a “fire followed by an explosion.”

“The search continues with the aim of finding other survivors,” he stressed, adding that an investigation had been opened to “identify and dismantle the networks that organize these clandestine trips.”

“The socio-economic situation in Haiti is in agony. The extreme violence of recent months has only encouraged Haitians to resort to even more desperate measures” to flee their country, reacted Grégoire Goodstein, IOM chief of mission in the country, in a press release.

Crossings on the rise

Since February 29, the coast guard in northern Haiti has observed an increase in the number of attempted and departing migrants by boat, according to the IOM.

“The lack of economic opportunities, the collapse of the health system, school closures and the absence of prospects are pushing many people to consider migration as the only means of survival,” the organization continues.

However, she said, more than 86,000 Haitians have been forced to return to the island by countries in the region since the beginning of the year.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has been mired for years in an economic, political and security crisis exacerbated by gang violence that controls 80% of the capital and the country’s main roads.

These armed gangs are accused of numerous murders, rapes, looting and kidnappings for ransom.

The situation escalated further earlier this year when the gangs decided to join forces to overthrow then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

The country now has nearly 600,000 internally displaced people, after a 60% increase since March.

Since Mr Henry’s departure, transitional authorities have been tasked with getting the country back on its feet, with the support of a multinational mission backed by the UN and led by Kenya.

Their task will be immense, in a country ravaged by violence and corruption, which has not had a president since the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021.