Four refugees and migrants have died and about 20 were missing after their boat capsized off the coast of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, authorities said, as Haitians and Dominicans continue to take life-threatening risks to make the crossing to what they hope is a better life.
The Dominican civil defence authority was quoted by AFP news agency as saying on Friday that 17 other people were rescued from the boat, which was carrying about 40 people and headed for Puerto Rico, a United States territory.
The Caribbean nation’s navy said it had rescued 10 Dominicans and seven Haitians. A child was among the survivors.
So-called “yola” migrant boats, such as the one that ran into trouble, are constructed from wood or fibreglass and do not comply with safety regulations, according to authorities.
Refugees and migrants pay as much as $7,000 for a one-way trip to Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with crisis-torn Haiti.
Illegal migration from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico has been a growing phenomenon in the last decade.
In 2022, at least five people drowned and another 66 were rescued in an incident involving a suspected human smuggling boat near the uninhabited island of Mona, west of Puerto Rico.
Mona Island, a nature reserve, is located between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico and has, over the years, been used by smugglers carrying people between the two. Those on that route are typically Dominican or Haitian.
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