Havana [Cuba], July 21: At least 40 people have died after a boat carrying migrants caught fire off the coast of Haiti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
The boat, carrying more than 80 people, caught fire during its 250-kilometre voyage between Fort Saint-Michel in Haiti's north to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Forty-one survivors were rescued by the Haitian Coast Guard, the IOM said. Eleven migrants were taken to hospital for treatment, including for burns.
"This devastating event highlights the risks faced by children, women, and men migrating through irregular routes, demonstrating the crucial need for safe and legal pathways for migration," said IOM's chief of mission in Haiti, Gregoire Goodstein.
"Haiti's socio-economic situation is in agony. The extreme violence over the past months has only brought Haitians to resort to desperate measures even more." Haiti has been suffering for years from the violence of heavily armed gangs, who have most of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince under their control.
Around half of Haiti's 11 million inhabitants are suffering from acute hunger. More than half a million Haitians are displaced within their own country. (DPA)
Source: Qatar Tribune