By Zachary Fagenson
MIAMI, Dec 25 (Reuters) – Eighteen Haitians died on
Wednesday morning off the Turks and Caicos islands after a
sailboat carrying more than 50 suspected immigrants capsized
while being towed into port, officials said.
Thirty-two Haitians were pulled from the waters about 100
meters off Providenciales, an island in the Turks and Caicos
islands north of Haiti in the Caribbean, according to the U.S.
Coast Guard. The survivors are being held in a Turks and Caicos
immigration detention and removal center.
Turks and Caicos police intercepted the boat around 3 a.m.
EST (0800 GMT) on Christmas day, according to a statement on the
governor’s office Facebook page. It capsized about two hours
later as authorities towed the boat into port.
“Police are still searching for the handful of people who
reached shore and fled the scene, and their investigations into
the incident continue,” the statement said.
The U.S. Coast Guard deployed two helicopters to the scene
after local authorities requested help, U.S. Coast Guard Petty
Officer Sabrina Laberbesque said. Two fast-response vessels from
Florida Coast Guard bases were also dispatched.
Dozens of Haitians have died in similar accidents in recent
years, as many seek to escape an island still reeling from the
devastating 2010 earthquake.
In November, at least 30 Haitian migrants drowned when their
overloaded boat capsized off the southern Bahamas. Eleven
Haitian migrants died in June 2012 when a boat carrying 28
people from the Bahamas to Florida sank.
(Editing by Curtis Skinner and Leslie Adler)
