Port-au-Prince, July 19 (EFE).- A mixture of fuel, the lighting of a candle and a mystical ceremony caused the fire of the boat in which they were traveling More than 80 Haitian migrants and caused the death of at least 40 of them off the coast of Cap Haitien, in the north of Haiti.
The information was provided by several survivors of the tragedy and by local authorities in Cap-Haïtien, the country’s second largest city. Six people were treated at Justinien Hospital. from that demarcation, a doctor from the health center informed EFE.
“There was a ceremony for the boat’s occupants to ask for mercy from the water spirits. It was then that a canister containing fuel exploded. It’s a ritual they always do. “The mystical ritual,” Kerwin Augustin, regional head of the National Migration Office (ONM), told EFE.
Preliminary reports indicate that 41 people survived, including nine with burns, one person with respiratory problems and another with swollen feet due to the fact that the passengers were standing throughout the journey.
The survivors, rescued by Haitian coast guards, receive medical care, food, water and psychosocial support provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with support from the ONM.
“This is not the first time this type of accident has happened. They have always performed mystical ceremonies (the travellers). It is a ritual. We must ask the water spirits for permission to do so. Augustin explained.
For the moment, the central government has not reacted to the incident that occurred last Wednesday, after the boat they were traveling on caught fire off Cap Haitien, leaving the Labadee area with more than 80 people who tried to reach the island illegally. Turks and Caicos Islands.
“This devastating incident highlights the risks faced by children, women and men who migrate through irregular channels, demonstrating the crucial need for safe and legal migration routes,” said Grégoire Goodstein, IOM’s chief of mission in Haiti, in a statement.
“Haiti’s socio-economic situation is in a state of anguish,” Goodstein added, stressing that the extreme violence of recent months has only spurred Haitians to resort to even more desperate measures.
In this regard, he said that the lack of economic opportunities, the collapse of the health system, the closure of schools and the absence of prospects are leading many people to see migration as the only way to survive.
For the vast majority of Haitians, regular migration is an extremely difficult process, so many consider irregular migration as their only option, a particularly dangerous option given the risks it entails, IOM said.
Since February 29, Haitian coast guards in the north have observed an increase in the number of boat attempts and departures. Coast guards from countries in the region, including the United States, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Jamaica have also reported an increasing number of boats originating from Haiti.
Last month alone, U.S. immigration authorities reported the arrival of at least 118 Haitian migrants on a sailing freighter in Key West, one of the islands of the Florida Keys at the southern tip of the United States.
