On Friday, at least 40 migrants died and some others were injured when a boat caught fire off the northern coast of Haiti.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) of the United Nations (UN), forty one survivors including eleven with burns were rescued by Haitian Coast Guard who managed to save them. The boat had left Labadee on Wednesday afternoon carrying more than 80 passengers heading to Turks and Caicos Islands which are about 240 kilometers away
The cause of the fire is yet to be established.Gregoire Goodstein, IOM’s Chief of Mission in Haiti said that “Haiti’s socioeconomic situation is in agony,” adding that “the extreme violence over the past months has only made Haitians resort desperate measures even more often.”
The capital city has been highly affected especially Port-au-Prince where gangs control about 80 percent of its area. These people live under daily threats by gangs who are always ready to kill, rape, steal or kidnap anyone. Following this, hundreds of Kenyan police officers have been sent as part of an international effort to bring back stability into this country.
Since late February, there has been a sharp increase in boats leaving through Haitian waters according to their Coast Guard. Neighboring nations among them being: the United States, Bahamas, Jamaica and Turks and Caicos Island have recorded an upsurge in interceptions and rescues at sea. IOM estimates that this year alone already over 86 thousand migrants have been forcibly returned to Haiti.
