SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – A Dominican migrant died and 23 others were rescued Sunday after the boat they were traveling on capsized, a U.S. coast guard spokesman said.
Rescue crews found the overturned 25-foot vessel around 9:45 a.m. after a cell phone call from one of the migrants was relayed to the U.S. Coast Guard, said Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad.
The migrants, who were apparently trying to sail to the U.S. Caribbean territory of Puerto Rico, were rescued 36 hours after their boat overturned near Isla Saona, an island off the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, Castrodad said. One woman was found dead under the boat.
The survivors — 20 men and three women, one of whom was 7 months pregnant — were in good health and sent back to the Dominican Republic, he added.
Each year thousands of Dominicans try to cross the Mona Passage, a perilous 80-mile-wide stretch of water separating Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
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