Miami:
At least 18 migrants from Haiti died on Wednesday when their overloaded sailboat capsized as it was being towed to shore in the Turks and Caicos Islands, officials in the British territory said.
A marine unit of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force had intercepted the packed sloop about two hours earlier and was escorting it to shore when it abruptly overturned, sparking a frantic search and rescue operation in the pre-dawn darkness.
The cause of the capsizing has not been confirmed. Karlo Pelissier, the Haitian consul to the Turks and Caicos, said he was told by survivors that several migrants attempted to jump off the 28-foot boat and flee to land as they neared the island of Providenciales, and that the surge caused the overloaded sloop to overturn.
Authorities rescued 32 migrants, including one 12-year-old boy, and recovered the bodies of 18 people. Divers and U.S. Coast Guard helicopters were assisting in a search for additional survivors or victims. The area where the incident occurred is in clear water about 150 yards (meters) from shore and the death toll was not expected to increase significantly, said Neil Smith a government spokesman.
Survivors were being detained at a migrant detention centre in Providenciales, the most populated island in the chain southeast of the Bahamas, and there were no major injuries. "They are tired, but they are OK," Pelissier said in a phone interview as he met with them.
A 10-year-old child of one of the migrants was unaccounted for, but a full accounting of the dead and missing was not yet available, he said.
The migrants, mostly from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and the northern city of Cap-Haitien, had set off on their voyage on Sunday night, Pelissier said. They paid $500-$1,000 each and were trying to reach Miami or the Bahamas as well as Turks and Caicos, which has an established community of migrants from Haiti working in construction, tourism and service jobs.
Haitian officials say they have attempted to discourage migrants from risking these journeys.
"We are saddened by such tragedy and present our condolences and prayers to the families and friends of those affected by this accident," said Salim Succar, an advisor to Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.
The migrants are expected to be repatriated to Haiti in the coming days. Authorities had not yet identified the captain of the vessel or any of the human smugglers from among the survivors, police spokesman Audley Astwood said. "Right now, the focus of our operation is search and rescue, trying to save as many lives as possible," he added.
The Turks and Caicos, in addition to being a destination for Haitian migrants seeking to escape their impoverished country, is also a favoured route of smugglers. The waters surrounding the islands are dotted with many tiny cays, reefs and patches of shallow water, making it treacherous for sailors, especially when the boats are overloaded.
The capsizing of migrant vessels has become common throughout the region. In November, an overloaded migrant sloop overturned in the southern Bahamas and an estimated 30 people drowned.
In July 2009, a sailboat with estimated 200 Haitians aboard ran aground on a reef off Turks and Caicos, killing at least 15 people. In May 2007, at least 61 migrants died when their boat capsized, also just off shore from Providenciales.