After days searching more than 6,600 square miles of ocean, the U.S. Coast Guard stopped looking for possible survivors Sunday night after an overloaded boat carrying Haitian migrants overturned near Puerto Rico’s western coast last week.
“After the rescue that was carried out on the first day, none of the searches gave a sign of survival. There comes a time when evaluating all the information available, searches, unfortunately, have to be suspended,” U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson Ricardo Castrodad told the Miami Herald.
At least 11 people, all women, died, while 38 others were rescued from the water. Two passengers are from the neighboring Dominican Republic, while the rest are from Haiti.
The dead are believed to be Haitian nationals, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Jeffrey Quiñones, based on testimonies collected from those on board. He said that the boat came from the Dominican Republic and is estimated to have been carrying between 65 and 70 people before it overturned, but the numbers could change as more information becomes available. Authorities believe the boat was between 25 and 30 feet long.
“We understand that there were people who could not be rescued that we could not find,” said Castrodad.
A Customs aircraft noticed the overturned boat and dozens of people in the water late Thursday morning, about 11 miles from Desecheo, a national wildlife refuge in the Mona Passage, the treacherous stretch of water separating Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.
The U.S. Coast Guard, in collaboration with Customs and Puerto Rico Police Department marine units, carried out 30 air-and-water searches over four days in an area of more than 6,600 square miles — larger than Puerto Rico itself. Conditions in the Mona Passage changed during the operation and the waves reached 6 to 7 feet at some points, Castrodad told the Miami Herald.
Migrant trips across the Mona Passage are commonly conducted on so-called yolas, makeshift vessels often made of wood, nails and glue and sometimes fortified with fiberglass. Castrodad said that regardless of the size or materials of the boat, illegal voyages conducted on yolas are dangerous. Passengers often have to bail out water from the poorly constructed boats during the journey.
“It’s unsafe to cross the Mona Passage, it’s unsafe to transit 400 yards. All of these voyages, regardless of where they depart from, are dangerous to the point that they are a mass rescue case waiting to happen,” said Castrodad.
The U.S. Coast Guard will frequently find disabled, adrift yolas after their engines broke down, he said, adding that sometimes the people on the boat will call them asking to be retrieved.
“They thought that they would cross in four to five hours and they spend two or three days,” he said.
The commander of Coast Guard Sector San Juan, Capt. Gregory H. Magee, also warned about the dangers of the voyages in a press release Monday morning and asked people considering going on these voyages to not do so.
“Unfortunately, as the threat of illegal voyages continues, we could be forced to respond to similar events in the future. The dangers of these voyages are real, we see them everyday, people aboard grossly overloaded makeshift boats taking on water in high seas with little or no lifesaving equipment,” said Magee, “These people are at the mercy of ruthless smugglers who are not concerned with their lives or safety.”
The Coast Guard and Customs in Puerto Rico are handling an increase in illegal voyages across the Mona Passage and other areas of the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean, mostly filled with nationals from the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
On Monday, the Coast Guard repatriated 24 Dominican nationals — 19 men and five women — from a boat it intercepted last Wednesday night about 80 miles from the northwestern town of Aguadilla, after a Customs aircraft spotted the vessel. The agency has intercepted 61 illegal voyages since Oct. 1, which were carrying 1,184 Dominicans and 348 Haitians.
Meanwhile, Customs in Puerto Rico had apprehended 757 Haitians and 292 Dominicans since Oct. 1. Haitians and Dominicans made up 85% of all migrants the agency detained during that time period.
“Our most heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of those who did not survive or remain missing” from the boat intercepted Thursday, Magee said. “Our prayers are with them.”
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