ARTICLE - 80 BOAT PEOPLE REPATRIATED

80 BOAT PEOPLE REPATRIATED YESTERDAY IN CAP-HAITIEN
(HaitiLibre)

An overloaded sailing vessel, carrying 80 Haitian migrants was spotted Sunday by a Coast Guard helicopter at about 4 miles south of Matthewtown, Bahamas. After a request for assistance under a bilateral agreement with the Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, the ship Escanaba of the coast guard went to the scene to intercept the boat.

After providing life jackets to the passengers, the Coast Guard transferred the Haitians aboard the Escanaba where they received food, water and basic medical care.

The destroyer of the HMBS Nortec RBDF (Royal Bahamas Defense Force), joined the Coast Guard ship and destroyed the migrant boat, considered dangerous for navigation.

The Escanaba repatriated 80 migrants yesterday at Cap Haitien in Haiti. Repatriation which is added to an already long list of our compatriots who have fled poverty and insecurity, risking their lives in flimsy boats, and exploited by unscrupulous traffickers.