A vessel carrying Haitian migrants capsized off the coast of the Bahamas, killing sixteen people, authorities said on Sunday, amid a wave of sea migration toward the US.
According to the Bahamian immigration minister, four women and seventeen men were rescued from the incident.
The boat capsized about 7 miles (11 kilometers) off the island of New Providence, according to Bahamas police.
It comes amid a continuing wave of sea migration toward the United States, with more than 150 people rescued off the coast of Florida on Thursday.
Migrats from Haiti to the United States frequently pass through the Bahamas.
Over the past year, dangerous sea voyages in rickety boats have become more frequent as Haitians fled poverty and rising gang violence.
This incident occurs only a few days after the US Coast Guard intercepted a rickety sailboat off the coast of Florida, averting what might have been a catastrophe.
The origin of the migrants has not been confirmed by authorities, but it is widely believed that they are from Haiti, where gang violence and kidnappings are a problem, and millions of people’s daily lives are threatened by a lack of fuel and electricity.
The migrants will then be returned to their home countries, according to the US Coast Guard.
