A vessel carrying up to 200 Haitian migrants capsized and sank near the Turks and Caicos Islands yesterday, the US coastguard said today. One survivor said the boat hit a reef near the islands, south-east of the Bahamas, as it attempted to elude police. Around 70 passengers were stranded on a reef and four bodies were recovered, a coastguard spokeswoman in Miami said. The remainder of the passengers were missing, feared dead. "Our main goal right now is just to get everybody out of the water and get medical attention for those who need it," Sabrina Elgammal said. The accident happened at around 2pm yesterday. By late evening, Turks and Caicos rescue workers, using small boats, had reached about 40 of the people stranded on the reef, two miles south-east of West Caicos island. The coastguard and island authorities were rescuing the others, a coastguard statement said. The boat had been at sea for three days when passengers saw a police vessel and accidentally steered their cr...
Get to know about News and lifestyle