15 killed as boat carrying Haitian migrants sinks
July 29th, 2009 - 8:08 am ICT by IANSMiami, July 29 (EFE) Fifteen people were killed after a boat carrying some 200 Haitian migrants capsized near the Turks and Caicos Islands, the US Coast Guard said.
About 70 people were missing in the incident and 118 passengers were rescued by the coast guard.
“The rescued people are in stable condition and, according to information we have up to now, nobody suffered serious injuries,” a Coast Guard spokesman in Miami, Barry Bena, said.
Bena said authorities think there were between 160 and 200 people in the boat, “but we don’t known exactly because some Haitians have said they stopped at different places to pick up others.”
Neil Hall, chief of the maritime police for Turks and Caicos, said, meanwhile, that they are trying to rescue more survivors, “but it will probably just be a case of recovering more bodies.”
Hall’s department called the shipwreck one “of the worst maritime tragedies” that had ever occurred in his country.
The boat, reported to be 9-15 metres long, hit the Molasses reef, some three kilometers southeast of West Caicos, apparently on Monday afternoon, Bena said.
In May, another boat with close to 30 Haitians shipwrecked off West Palm Beach on the east coast of Florida killing nine people.
- 150 killed in Mediterranean boat capsize: UN - Jun 04, 2011
- Eight drown as Chinese cargo ship sinks - Feb 18, 2012
- Ghana fishes for fibre glass boats from India - Sep 11, 2011
- 11 US tourists missing in Philippines boat capsize - Jan 26, 2012
- Dominican Republic shipwreck toll rises to 16 - Feb 06, 2012
- US Coast Guard rescues cruise ship jumper - Dec 12, 2009
- 200 rescued in Papua New Guinea ferry disaster (Second Lead) - Feb 02, 2012
- Four dead, five missing in Mexico boat accident - Mar 10, 2011
- Cruise Ship Jumper Rescued By US Coast Guard - Dec 12, 2009
- One Indian crew member missing in Italian ship capsize - Jan 16, 2012
- Tamil Nadu boat capsize kills 13 (Lead) - Dec 25, 2011
- 10 dead as Dominican boat capsizes - Feb 05, 2012
- Rescuers blast holes in Italian cruise liner - Jan 17, 2012
- Earl becomes a category four hurricane; Fiona forms in Atlantic - Aug 31, 2010
- 45 missing as Philippines boat capsizes - Feb 14, 2012
Tags: bena, different places, east coast, haitian migrants, haitians, kilometers, maritime police, molasses reef, monday afternoon, palm beach, shipwreck, spokesman, stable condition, survivors, tragedies, turks and caicos, turks and caicos islands, us coast guard, west caicos, west palm beach
