5 Haiti Migrants Dead, 68 Others Rescued After Suspected Human Smuggling Boat Drops Them in Puerto Rico Waters

Five Haiti migrants died, and 68 others were rescued by authorities on Thursday after a suspected human smuggling boat dropped the victims into the waters of Puerto Rico.

According to Associated Press, federal and local authorities discovered the Haiti migrants after they surveyed the area near Mona Island for several hours following a call from the rangers from Puerto Rico's Department of Natural Resources.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman Jeffrey Quiñones said all migrants aboard the boat were from Haiti. The identities of the five migrants from Haiti that died in the aftermath of the incident were not disclosed. Al Jazeera noted that two minors were among the 41 men and 25 women survivors of the incident.

U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad confirmed that no additional people were missing, based on the interviews with survivors. He further noted that none of the survivors had any urgent medical issues.

Haiti Migrants Dropped by Suspected Smugglers in the Boat

In a telephone interview with Reuters, Quiñones noted that the migrants from Haiti were reportedly forced to leave the boat while it was still in the waters of Puerto Rico.

"The smugglers basically forced the migrants to disembark, it appears that five of the migrants drowned in the process," the U.S. CBP spokesman said.

Castrodad then noted that the boat fled the scene after the migrants disembarked the said vessel.

The incident on Thursday is the latest in the series of deadly voyages of migrants from Haiti across the northern Caribbean.

On Sunday, 17 people died in another boat incident, while 25 others were rescued after a speedboat from Haiti capsized off the coast of the Bahamas.

The speedboat reportedly capsized off the coast of New Providence, which is the Bahamas' most populous island. Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis noted that the said speedboat was carrying approximately 60 people and was headed to Miami to smuggle the migrants from Haiti.

Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander highlighted that two men allegedly involved in the said human smuggling operation on Sunday were arrested.

Why Are Haitians Fleeing From Their Home Country?

According to reports, Haitians become migrants and flee their home country amid a spike in gang-related killings and kidnapping in Haiti that left more than 470 people dead, injured or missing.

Most of the Haiti migrants try to enter the U.S. by land through the Southern border with Mexico.

Another avenue the Haitians utilize is leaving their country by the sea with the help of human smugglers.

Reports claimed that human smuggling boats carry migrants from Haiti to Puerto Rico to depart from the neighboring Dominican Republic. However, some of the boats capsize in the treacherous Mona Passage that separates the island of Hispaniola from Haiti, while other boats drop off the migrants from in tiny uninhabited islands of Puerto Rico.

"This is happening every day... Everyone runs the same risk and same danger," Castrodad said.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

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