PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – President Michel Martelly has extended condolences to the families of at least 38 Haitian migrants who died when their boat sank off Cuba on Christmas Eve.
Cuban officials said that another 87 people from the boat were rescued.
Martelly has also advised Haitians seeking better opportunities not to venture out to sea in boats that are not seaworthy and reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to improving the lives of all Haitians and to creating enough quality jobs to lift them out of poverty.
Cuban television, quoting Civil Defence officials, said that the boat was spotted 100 meters off shore.
On Saturday, the United States Coast Guard said that it had returned almost 150 migrants to Haiti and Cuba after intercepting their boats at sea.
A total of 112 Haitian migrants were returned to Cap-Haitien, Haiti, on Friday, officials said.
A Coast Guard crew on the St. Petersburg, Florida-based Cutter Resolute, conducting a routine patrol in the Caribbean Sea, discovered the Haitian sail freighter west of Great Inagua, Bahamas, on its way to the Florida coast.
The vessel was “grossly overloaded” with 87 men, 19 women and six children, according to Coast Guard Captain Brendan McPherson, of the 7th Coast Guard District chief of enforcement.
“The Coast Guard strongly advises against taking to sea in an attempt to illegally enter the United States,” he said.
“Taking to sea in a grossly overloaded vessel with little or no safety gear needlessly places human lives at risk. The Coast Guard will continue to rescue Haitian migrants from their peril at sea and will always do so in a professional manner that preserves the dignity of all people” he added.
