MERIGOT,HAITI, 05/04/2015 Madam Sara's pack themselves and goods onto wooden cargo boats that sail back and forward from Merigot to Anse-An-Pitres on the Dominican Republic border. 'Madam Sara's' are the Haitian women who buy and resell products to support their families. These women bring the produce of 700,000 farms to market, and power over 70% percent of the informal local economy. A "Madan Sara" is not only considered a critical market link between the rural Haitian food producers and urban consumers, but she is the principal distributor of domestic produce in Haiti. According to a popular Haitian tale, the name was given to the women marketers as a comparison to a migratory bird that searches and finds food wherever it goes. (Photo by Giles Clarke/Getty Images)
At least 17 people have died, including a baby, after a boat capsized in the Bahamas. According to Reuters, authorities said the boat was likely transporting Haitian migrants during a suspected “human smuggling” operation bound for the United States.
An investigation into the incident is still underway, but authorities said during a press conference that between 50 and 60 people were in the boat when it capsized approximately 7 miles off the coast of New Providence island around midnight on Sunday.
The boat full of hopeful migrants was suspected to be bound for Florida.
Officials reportedly recovered the bodies of 16 females, including a child believed to be 4 or 5 years old, and one male. Authorities rescued 25 other people from the water. Between eight to 12 people are believed to still be missing.
Three individuals who were rescued are still being treated at a local hospital after the near-drowning incident, according to Bahamian Acting Minister of Health Ryan Pinder, who also serves as the attorney general.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he sympathized with the parents of the victims while speaking with the press Sunday.
“This new drama saddens the whole nation,” he said. “I launch, once again, an appeal for national reconciliation in order to solve the problems that are driving away, far from our soil, our brothers, our sisters, our children.”
Reports of several capsized boats involving migrants happened in the Caribbean this year. In May, 11 people were confirmed dead and 38 were saved off the coast of Puerto Rico in a similar report. Another incident in January saw one man rescued and another confirmed dead after a boat carrying 40 migrants went down off Florida, with the missing victims never found.
Reuters reports that over 6,000 Haitian migrants were intercepted by Coast Guard crews between October 2021 and June 2022.
