SAN JUAN.- Authorities were searching this Thursday for missing migrants off the northwest coast of Puerto Rico, after an overcrowded boat capsized and at least two people died.
Puerto Rico police said their officers rescued 30 occupants of the boat that sank Wednesday near the coastal town of Quebradillas. Two of them were hospitalized for unspecified reasons.
It was not clear how many people were on the boat or where it sailed from, although the vast majority of migrants trying to reach Puerto Rico come from Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The number of people trying to reach Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic on flimsy rafts has increased, while the crisis due to gangs and poverty increases in Haiti.
It is dangerous to cross the so-called Mona Pass, a 148-kilometer (92-mile) strait from the island of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, and dozens of migrants have reportedly drowned there in recent years. Hispaniola is the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
This week, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) warned that the violence of armed groups caused some 170,000 children to have had to leave their homes, in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
In total, about 314,000 people live as displaced people, mainly in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the department of Artibonite. In less than two weeks, 2,500 Haitians have had to leave their homes, mostly women and children, Unicef said.
Source: With information from AP / Europa Press
