MIAMI (Reuters) – The U.S. Coast Guard has found an additional seven survivors from the capsizing of a vessel carrying Haitian migrants, a Coast Guard spokesman said on Friday, taking the total number of survivors to 38 with the death toll unchanged at 11.
The vessel, which was first spotted on Thursday north of Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico, was carrying mostly Haitian migrants as well as two citizens of the Dominican Republic, the spokesman said.
“Of these survivors, eight remain hospitalized,” the spokesman told Reuters. “Search efforts continue.”
The Coast Guard on Thursday had reported 31 survivors.
Migrants, particularly from Haiti, have in recent months been attempting to escape gang violence and poverty through dangerous voyages on unseaworthy vessels.
(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Miami; Editing by Alistair Bell)
