MIAMI (Reuters) – A boat with between 160 and 200 Haitian migrants aboard capsized and sank off the Turks and Caicos islands yesterday, according to US Coast Guard crews helping local authorities rescue survivors from the reefs.
Rescuers in small boats plucked about 40 survivors from the reefs and about two dozen more were still stranded yesterday evening, the Coast Guard said.
Some of the most gravely injured survivors were taken by helicopter to the Turks and Caicos capital of Providenciales for medical treatment. At least four bodies were located and scores were believed to be missing, based on passenger estimates of the number aboard.
The Turks and Caicos islands are a British territory in the Atlantic Ocean, between the southern Bahamas and the north coast of Haiti.
Haitian migrants often travel through the islands in dangerously crowded boats, hoping to escape their impoverished country and find work in the Bahamas or Florida.
Last week, the US Coast Guard intercepted 124 Haitian migrants from what they called a “grossly overloaded” 60-foot (18-metre) boat about 150 miles (240 km) southwest of the shipwreck site. They were repatriated to Haiti yesterday.