Eleven people were killed and 31 others were rescued on Thursday after a migrant boat capsized about 10 miles north of Desecheo Island, PR reported, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The agency reported that shortly before noon, the crew of a Customs and Border Guard plane spotted an overturned ship. The crew reported people in the water who did not appear to be wearing life jackets, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard said the ship was “suspected of taking part in an illegal voyage”.
Most of the people on the boat are from Haiti, but two of the survivors are from the Dominican Republic, said Jeffrey Quinones, a spokesman for the US Customs and Border Protection. The boat left the Dominican Republic and was on its way through the insidious Mona Pass to the western side of Puerto Rico, he said.
Mr Quinonez said that based on migrants’ stories, the boat was taking in water and the occupants were trying to throw water out of the boat. He said it was not uncommon for such trips because boats were often “non-seaworthy”.
“The boat seems to have broken down because it is not a boat designed for such a voyage,” Mr Quinones said. “With a lot of people in the boat, of course, that can happen.”
A Coast Guard spokesman said Thursday night that the agency was still searching for survivors and did not know how many people had been on the boat.
The lack of opportunities in developing countries, which have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and rising prices that have led to food insecurity, has prompted more and more people to seek entry into the United States.
More than 3,200 migrants were caught trying to reach the United States by sea in fiscal 2021. Most of these arrests were made in California, but Florida authorities detained 1,316 Cubans, Haitians and Dominicans, almost as many as the previous two fiscal years combined.
The figures underestimate the true number of people seeking entry at sea, as they are only events in which people are detained or the ship is found.
Many of the migrants come from Haiti. They are taking insidious paths to escape a country gripped by gang violence, political instability and widespread poverty. They arrive on the west coast of Puerto Rico with a certain frequency, often on makeshift wooden boats known on this island as “yola”.
When federal authorities detained large groups of migrants or arrested their smugglers, they repeatedly emphasized the dangers of crossing the Mona Pass or making dangerous landings either in western Puerto Rico or on three small islands in the Mona, Monito and Desecheo.
In October, a U.S. border patrol arrested four Dominican men and accused them of transporting 43 Haitians to Mona Island.
Last week, U.S. border guards detained 60 Haitian migrants and a Dominican woman who arrived in Cabo Rojo, southwest Puerto Rico. This followed the arrival this month of 59 Haitians in Rincon, on the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, which is known for its strong surfing.
In this case, agents spotted the makeshift boat, a 30-foot homemade ship reaching the shore. They found him abandoned on the shore and searched the area before finding the migrants, according to the Border Patrol.
Patricia Macei contributed to the reports.
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