MIAMI, (Reuters) – The U.S. Coast Guard yesterday called off its search for up to 67 Haitian migrants missing from a wooden sailboat that sank off the Turks and Caicos Islands, saying they were presumed lost at sea.
Fifteen bodies were recovered by rescuers following the wreck of the wooden sloop carrying up to 200 illegal migrants, which hit a reef and went down late on Sunday off West Caicos, a sparsely inhabited island popular with divers and boaters.
U.S. Coast Guard aircraft and vessels had helped Turks and Caicos authorities rescue at least 118 people. The search for those reported missing lasted more than two days.
“The decision to suspend this search is particularly difficult because we believe there were many people onboard this vessel that have not been recovered and are presumed lost at sea,” said Rear Admiral Steve Branham, commander of the Miami-based Seventh Coast Guard District that assisted the search-and-rescue operation in the Turks and Caicos.
Authorities in the British territory in the Atlantic Ocean, which lies between the southern Bahamas and the north coast of Haiti, have started repatriating the surviving illegal migrants back to Haiti.
Haitian migrants often leave their impoverished Caribbean country in dangerously crowded boats, hoping to escape poverty and find work in the Bahamas or Florida.
“Ill-advised voyages on grossly overloaded vessels are inherently dangerous and should not be attempted,” Branham said. “There are safe and legal ways to immigrate to the United States. When people deviate from these means, tragedies occur,” he added.
Last week, the 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 on Monday.