According to a coastguard spokeswoman, the US Coast Guard has discovered seven more survivors from the capsizing of a vessel transporting Haitian migrants near Puerto Rico, bringing the overall number of survivors to 38, with the dead toll standing at 11.
The sailboat, which was initially seen north of Desecheo Island, an uninhabited island in the archipelago of Puerto Rico, a US possession, was transporting predominantly Haitian migrants as well as two Dominican Republic nationals, according to a spokesman.
“Eight of these survivors are still hospitalised,” the official told Reuters. “The search continues.”
On Thursday, the coastguard confirmed 31 survivors.
Migrants, notably from Haiti, have been seeking to flee gang violence and poverty in recent months by embarking on perilous trips on unseaworthy vessels, with a spate of terrible deaths at sea.
The sinking comes less than a week after the United States Coast Guard and the Dominican Navy rescued 68 people in the Mona Passage, a hazardous region of the Caribbean between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
According to US officials, they have apprehended twice as many migrants in and surrounding US territories in the Caribbean in the last year than they did the previous year. Observers say Haiti’s political turmoil, combined with deadly gang violence and a collapsing economy, has caused more people to escape.
The Associated Press quoted Scott Garrett, acting chief patrol agent for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Puerto Rico, as saying, “We’ve seen our Haitian numbers skyrocket.”
Garrett said it was unknown how many migrants were on board the boat, but survivors had given authorities their own estimations. “The figures we’re hearing are between 60 and 75,” he added.
On Thursday, a CBP chopper spotted passengers clinging to the capsized boat and launched rescue attempts. Crews worked through the night, while the coastguard searched the open waters northwest of Puerto Rico by boat, aircraft, and helicopter on Friday.
Authorities posted photographs of individuals desperately clinging to the boat in open waters while waiting for assistance. Survivors were brought down a dock after they arrived, with at least one wearing nothing but his underpants. Some others were brought to ambulances, and eight Haitians were still hospitalised on Friday.
According to Tom Homan, who served as acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for much of the Trump administration, the migrants in the latest incident may have gotten lost, taking them further away from the US mainland, or they may have been attempting to reach Puerto Rico, a US territory where they can seek asylum. Both circumstances are rather common.
Despite warnings, the executive director of the Haitian National Human Rights Defense Network, Pierre Esperance, expects the excursions to continue.
“It’s riskier for Haitians to stay in Haiti than to try to emigrate for a better life,” he added.
According to a United Nations assessment, kidnappings in the country of more than 11 million people have climbed 180 percent in the last year, while killings have jumped 17 percent. Dozens of people, including women and children, have been slaughtered in recent weeks as gangs struggle for territory as their dominance increases in the aftermath of the death of the country’s president, Jovenel Mose, on July 7.
Last week, the UN reported that people were being burnt alive and that children as young as ten were being gang-raped.
Haiti has also seen double-digit inflation, acute gas shortages, and gang violence, which has forced the closure of hundreds of schools and businesses as well as several hospitals and clinics. Given the country’s downward slide, the Biden administration has deported over 20,000 Haitians in recent months, prompting widespread condemnation.
“Even if it’s hazardous to board a boat, staying in Haiti is more perilous,” Esperance remarked.
