BVI crews find 3 more bodies of Haitian migrants

Published November 17, 2014

Authorities found three more bodies, including that of a child, as they searched Wednesday for survivors from a boat filled mostly with Haitian migrants that capsized amid jagged reefs.

The two other victims found near the wreckage were adult men, said Phil Aspinal, president of the Virgin Islands Search and Rescue.

At least eight bodies have been found and another 25 people rescued after the sinking of the boat that apparently departed from Dutch St. Maarten and tried to illegally enter the British territory on Monday.

Authorities initially said that 28 people were rescued.

One of those rescued is from the Dominican Republic and another from Dominica, according to Chief Immigration Officer Dennis Jennings.

Twenty-one migrants are being held at a detention center and four others are hospitalized, according to police spokeswoman Diane Drayton.

On Tuesday, police in St. Maarten arrested three Haitians they said will be charged with human smuggling in the case.

British Virgin Islands Premier Ralph O'Neal called the migrants' deaths a "despicable crime."

The British Virgin Islands, comprising more than 50 islands, are attractive to Caribbean smugglers carrying illegal migrants because they are close to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

URL

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