 (guardian.co.uk) - An overloaded boat carrying migrants from the Dominican Republic overturned in the pre-dawn darkness on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and leaving dozens missing, officials said.
The migrants had left from near the town of Nagua, on the country's north-east coast, and were apparently headed to the US island territory of Puerto Rico, a frequent destination for migrants from the Dominican Republic.
Rescue teams from the country's civil defence department and volunteers were searching by air and sea in Samana Bay for any signs of survivors.
Authorities had rescued nine people and some said there were as many as 60 people on board, according to Jeffrey Pimentel, a fire chief in Samana province. The bodies of 4 women and six men had been recovered.
Thousands of Dominican migrants try to reach Puerto Rico as illegal immigrants in open boats that are ill-suited to the journey.
UPDATE Deaths in makeshift boat sinking rise to 19, search suspended
DominicanToday.com - Authorities found another body that of a woman and now total seven recovered Sunday, from a makeshift boat headed to Puerto Rico which sank Saturday in Samaná Bay, where 18 found thus far after the 11 yesterday.
Navy regional command Captain Héctor Ramon Méndez said a US Coast Guard cutter Capella, two speedboats and two rescue craft are in the zone, joined by six boats crewed by volunteer fishermen.
Six women and 12 men are confirmed dead and the search for the rest of the undetermined number of missing has been suspension until tomorrow, the official said.
Some of the 19 survivors are being taken to the Sabana de la Mar Navy Station as suspects while others were taken to the town’s hospital, with various injuries and first and second degree burns, he Navy said in a statement.
Daniel Cepeda, one of the as yet undetermined number of survivors, said he paid 30,000 pesos (around 770 dollars) for the failed trip across the Monsa Passage.
Confronted with the facts the two Dominicans, Carlos Manuel Saturria-Frias and Saturria-Frias were arrested by CBP officers and admitted to purchasing the documents from two unidentified homeless drug addicts, to assume the document’s identity to proof their legal stay in the United States.......
Mayor William Lantigua of Lawrence wrote “to whom it may concern’’ on mayoral stationery, calling a criminal “a hard-working individual with a strong set of values and high ethical standards.’’ In another case, shortly after his inauguration, Lantigua wrote a letter on behalf of a second criminal. Lantigua himself is facing state and federal investigations into possible corruption and other potential wrongdoing at City Hall........ |
