Puerto Rico’s border guards spotted a capsized boat about ten nautical miles off an uninhabited island from the air on Thursday afternoon.
Lifeboats arrive at the scene after a migrant ship capsized north of Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico.
(dpa)
At least 11 people died when a boat capsized near Puerto Rico. Another 31 were rescued, as the US Coast Guard announced on Thursday (local time). It was therefore presumably an illegal crossing. The number of people who were in the water is unclear.
The Coast Guard was notified around noon (local time) that border patrol from the air had discovered a capsized boat about ten nautical miles (almost 19 kilometers) north of the uninhabited Desecheo Island – this belongs to the Caribbean American territory of Puerto Rico. Accordingly, there were people in the water who were not wearing life jackets. According to the announcement, the coast guard, border guards and the Puerto Rican police were involved in the rescue operation.
According to a report in the Miami Herald newspaper, the boat passengers were Haitian migrants. The Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and the island of Hispaniola, where the accident happened, is a common route for often overcrowded boats carrying migrants from the Hispaniolan countries of Haiti and Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico. The crossing was difficult due to inadequate safety precautions, unsafe boats and dangerous sea conditions.