Disaster in the Caribbean: At least 40 dead in fire on migrant boat in Haiti

A boat with more than 80 migrants on board caught fire off the coast of Haiti. At least 40 people died, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Haiti’s coast guard was able to rescue 41 survivors, eleven of whom were taken to hospital. The boat was reportedly on its way from the northern Haitian city of Cap-Haïtien to the Turks and Caicos Islands, around 250 kilometers away, on Wednesday. Local media reported that, according to survivors, gasoline was probably ignited by a candle that had been used for a voodoo ritual on the boat.

Haiti is experiencing a serious security and humanitarian crisis as well as political chaos. Around half of the Caribbean state’s eleven million inhabitants are suffering from acute hunger. President Jovenel Moïse was murdered around three years ago and has not yet been replaced. Heavily armed gangs have largely controlled the capital, Port-au-Prince. Their violence has displaced more than half a million Haitians within their own country. Several hundred Kenyan police officers have recently been in Haiti as part of a multinational security mission against the gangs.

IOM: Haitians need safe migration routes

The accident shows the urgent need for safe and legal migration routes for Haitians, said the IOM’s Haiti chief, Grégoire Goodstein. According to the statement, more than 86,000 migrants have already been deported there this year despite the situation in Haiti. Several countries in the region have registered an increase in the number of Haitians intercepted at sea in recent months.

On Thursday, the Bahamas Armed Forces announced that they had called off the search for a missing boat with an estimated 60 migrants on board. The boat is believed to have set off for the United States on July 4 from the Bahamian Abaco Islands – a frequent stopover for Haitians.