Haiti - FLASH : Shipwreck off the Bahamas 31 survivors, several Haitians missing
On January 21, 31 Haitian boat people were spotted and rescued by the military ship HMBS LLSmith of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF) between Maycock Cay and Double Breast Cay after their loaded boat was wrecked.
According to the testimonies of the survivors, their boat capsized around January 13 and they survived on the cays (small low islands mainly composed of corals and sand). They told investigators that there were other missing persons, including at least 5 women, but they were unable to provide a precise number of the passengers who had left Port-de-Paix in Haiti, in hope for a better life...
As a result, RBDF air assets, as well as OPBAT air support, swept the area with negative observations.
On January 24, a boater reported seeing a body stranded at Double Breast Cay around noon and another body an hour later. A third lifeless shipwrecked man was also found by residents in the vicinity of Hog Cay, about three kilometers southwest of Double Breast Cay.
Members of the EBDF and the Royal Bahamas Police Force CDU continue to search for possible survivors in the small islands (cay) of Ragged Island.
