ARTICLE - HUMAN SMUGGLING ENDS IN DEATH

HUMAN SMUGGLING ENDS IN 8 DEATHS
(The BVI Beacon) - Written by Webmaster

A high-speed motorboat carrying at least 33 migrants slammed into a reef outside the hurricane hole in Paraquita Bay and capsised shortly after midnight on Monday. Eight bodies, including three children, have been retrieved from the area of the wreckage, where Marine Police and Virgin Islands Search and Rescue volunteers continue to comb the waters for bodies and personal belongings.

Chief Immigration Officer Dennis Jennings said survivors include 24 Haitians and one Dominica national. Currently, 21 are being held at the Immigration Detention Centre at Balsam Ghut, and four are hospitalised, according to Police Information Officer Diane Drayton. Preliminary testing found no cholera among the detainees, according to a police press release.

The bodies have not been identified.

St. Maarten police have arrested and charged three Haitian men with human smuggling charges in connection with the incident.

Prosecutor Reink Mud issued a statement verifying that the three suspects are Haitian men who legally live in St. Maarten. Three house searches were conducted, followed by two “searches in offices,” Mr. Mud said.

Police have not released the identity of the three men.

A Dutch Dash-8 aircraft initially spotted the 25-foot speedboat carrying more than 30 people at a “very high speed” Sunday night on course from St. Maarten to the Virgin Islands, said Ricardo Castrodad, spokesperson for the San Juan sector of the United States Coast Guard.

Currently, authorities are investigating to determine the starting point and intended destination of the vessel, he said.

The USCG dispatched an 87-foot coastal patrol boat, Coast Guard Cutter Reef Shark, and two aircrafts to assist the Dutch authorities in their pursuit of the speedboat, which travelled north through VI waters, he said. BVI Marine Police were also dispatched.

The USCG boat was unable to come within a mile of the vessel before it slammed into a reef, and “everyone” onboard was thrown into the water, Mr. Castrodad said.

“It’s a very dangerous operation to intercept a vessel when you don’t have the amount of water necessary to adequately approach the vessel and stop it in a safe manner without everyone getting hurt,” the USCG spokesperson said, adding that at the rate the boat was travelling, the captain was “definitely not concerned about the people on board.”

“When smugglers don’t want to be stopped, and they want to continue fleeing, more than likely something tragic will happen,” he said.