Five people found dead in Puerto Rico waters after human smuggling incident

Record ID: 1683025

  • Title: Five people found dead in Puerto Rico waters after human smuggling incident
  • Date: 29th July 2022
  • Summary: MAYAGUEZ, PUERTO RICO (JULY 28, 2022) (REUTERS) RESCUE BOAT CARRYING MIGRANTS DRIVING TOWARD SHORE VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS IN RESCUE BOAT U.S. COAST GUARD CHECKING ON MIGRANTS AUTHORITIES BINDING MIGRANT’S HANDS U.S. COAST GUARD OFFICER GUIDING MIGRANT AWAY FROM HARBOUR / OFFICER CARRYING CHILD CHILD’S FEET ON GROUND MIGRANTS AND U.S. COAST GUARD OFFICERS STANDING IN FRONT
  • Embargoed: 12th August 2022 03:47
  • Keywords: Puerto Rico human rights migrants sea accident
  • Location: MAYAGUEZ, PUERTO RICO
  • City: MAYAGUEZ, PUERTO RICO
  • Country: Puerto Rico
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Sea Accidents,South America / Central America
  • Reuters ID: LVA001516928072022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The bodies of five people have been recovered in waters near Mona Island in Puerto Rico, following a human smuggling event in which migrants were forced to get out of a makeshift wooden boat, U.S. officials said on Thursday (July 28).
    The bodies were found by Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources Park Rangers on Mona Island, the Coast Guard said in a statement, adding that 66 survivors including two minors were safely ashore.
    "The smugglers basically forced the migrants to disembark, it appears that five of the migrants drowned in the process," said Jeffrey Quinones, public affairs officer for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in a telephone interview.
    Officials have not yet confirmed the nationalities of those on board, Quinones said.
    Mona Island, a nature reserve, is located between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico and has over the years been used by smugglers carrying people between the two. Migrants on that route are typically Dominican or Haitian.
    At least 11 people drowned in May when a vessel carrying Haitian migrants capsized near Puerto Rico, amid a steady increase in migrants attempting to reach U.S. shores in dangerous marine voyages.
    (Production: Ricardo Ortiz, Eva Weininger)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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