Week after deadly trek, another migrant boat stopped off Dominican Republic

A week after 10 people disappeared from a capsized migrant boat between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, the U.S. Coast Guard and Dominican Republic Navy rescued 61 people from a similarly overloaded vessel in roughly the same area, officials say.

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The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Winslow Griesler spotted the 30-foot blue vessel shortly before 6 a.m. Monday about 12 nautical miles northwest of Cabo Cabron, on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, the maritime service said in a press release.

Exactly a week earlier, a migrant boat with 62 people overturned about 100 miles to the southeast off Mona Island after a fight broke out on the vessel. The Coast Guard and a civilian boat crew saved most of the people on board in a series of dramatic rescues, but they also found three bodies, and 10 people remain missing and are presumed dead.

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Cmdr. Matthew Romano, Coast Guard Sector San Juan chief of response, said in a statement that “these dangerous and unlawful voyages are increasing, and our luck will eventually run out. Do not risk your life with ruthless smugglers. Choose safe, lawful migration pathways; if caught, you could face prosecution or immediate repatriation.”

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On Monday, the Griesler was passing through Dominican Republic waters as part of a joint agreement the service has with the nation to deter maritime migration when it encountered the boat. The agency said the vessel was “rapidly taking on water,” and Coast Guard crews began putting the people on small patrol boats while helicopters and aircraft from the Dominican Republic Air Force watched kept watch from above.

Two Dominican Republic Navy patrol boats arrived to help offload the people from the sinking vessel, the Coast Guard said. All the migrants were turned over to Dominican Republic authorities., the Coast Guard said, adding, “their nationalities are yet to be determined.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the majority of the people on the boat that went down last week were from the Dominican Republic. Two of the survivors are from Haiti, the agency said.

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