40 killed in migrant boat fire off Haiti’s coast: UN agency
At least 40 died after a boat carrying migrants caught fire off the northern coast of Haiti, the UN’s International Organization for Migration reported Friday. The fire likely started when two drums of gasoline ignited.
Haiti has been scrambling to contain violence for months nowImage: Ivan Valencia/AP Photo/picture allian
At least 40 migrants have died and several others were injured after a boat they were traveling in caught fire off the northern coast of Haiti, a UN agency said Friday.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that the Haitian Coast Guard rescued 41 survivors, 11 of whom were hospitalized, including some for burns.
A government official said the migrants were trying to escape to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The boat, carrying more than 80 people, had left the port of Labadee on Wednesday en route to the Turks and Caicos Islands, a 150-mile journey, the IOM reported, citing Haiti’s National Office for Migration.
The fire likely started when two drums of gasoline ignited, Civil Protection official Jean Henry-Petit said. Passengers were drinking rum and whiskey, according to a witness, which may have come into contact with the flammable substance, causing the fire, according to the Associated Press.
The dead included the captain of the boat, according to Arnold Jean, a spokesperson for the police in Cap-Haïtien.
