Turks & Caicos ends search after Haitian boat capsizes

Source: The Miami HeraldDec.儲存倉 26--Believing they have plucked all the dead and survivors from the water after an intercepted freighter capsized Wednesday and spilled dozens of Haitian migrants into the ocean, Turks and Caicos authorities are turning their focus to determining the cause of the deadly incident.Police believe the packed, 40-foot sail freighter buckled as it was being towed toward Providenciales by marine patrol when a mass of passengers overloaded one side of the shallow, wooden vessel, according to government spokesman Neil Smith."I have heard from police commissioner that there are witness accounts that the people were seen to move to one side of the vessel and that appears to be what caused the capsize," Smith said.The sloop, carrying as many as 55 migrants, was stopped by the Marine Branch of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday. It capsized two hours later in the shallow waters of Caicos Bank not far from the commercial port of South Dock as police towed the boat to land.The incident set off a pre-dawn scramble, and rescue crews, including the U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Bahamas Defense Force, helped try to save the migrants, who were spotted clinging to the hull of the doomed freighter.Police said 12 men and five women, all adults, died. Another 33 were rescued and detained, including one child, and were being questioned Thursday by police.Police don't believe any survivors or bodies remain in the water, though authorities were searching for several passengers believed to have swam to shore and escaped.Meanwhile, autopsies are to be conducted and the bodies of those who died will be repatriated to Haiti."There will be an investigation into the accident. The police and immigration officials are interviewing people arrested and subsequently detained," Smith said. "At the moment it appears that unfortunately the people on the vessel contributed to the incident. But there are other options and the investigation will look into that."The Chri迷你倉最平tmas tragedy is the fourth deadly boating accident involving Haitian migrants in the region since August. The tragedies have claimed more than 50.In November, an estimated 30 people drowned when their overloaded sloop overturned in the waters off the southern Bahamas. One month earlier, four Haitian women being smuggled aboard a fishing boat died when the vessel capsized seven miles off Miami Beach. In August, a 14-year-old Haitian girl died and nine other migrants were taken into custody when a boat smuggling them came ashore in Palm Beach County.The waters off Turks and Caicos have been particularly dangerous.In July 2009, at least 15 Haitians died -- and an additional 70 lost at sea -- when a packed sailboat struck a coral reef and broke apart off Turks and Caicos.Two years earlier, at least 61 Haitians died when their overloaded sloop capsized as Turks and Caicos authorities towed their boat to shore. Some of the 78 survivors accused an island patrol boat of ramming their boat, an allegation the government denied.On Thursday, the International Organization for Migration said the incident has refocused attention on "the crisis of 'desperation migration.'"The organization said most on the boat were reportedly from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince as well as the northern city of Cap Haitien. The capsizing, according to the organization, "occurred when migrants attempted to jump off one side of the 28-foot boat and flee on land rather than face arrest and deportation, according to survivors."The organization said the migrants paid between $500 and $1,000 to board the vessel and were apparently headed to Miami or the Bahamas."The tragedy underscores the urgency of the international community taking decisive action to address the causes of what can only be described as 'desperation migration,''' William Swing, Director General of the IOM, said in a statement.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Miami Herald Visit The Miami Herald at .miamiherald.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉