A boat loaded with suspected migrants capsized north of an uninhabited island near Puerto Rico and 11 people had been confirmed dead while 31 others were rescued Thursday, authorities said.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were aboard the boat when it turned over, said U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad. He said a “mass rescue effort” was still underway.
“We’re looking to rescue as many people as we can and find as many survivors as we can,” he said.
At least eight Haitians were taken to the hospital, although the nationalities of all those aboard the boat were not immediately known.
The incident was the latest in a string of capsizings across the region as migrants from Haiti and the Dominican Republic flee violence and poverty in their countries.
A US Customs and Border Protection aircrew on Thursday morning spotted the troubled vessel and people in the water about 10 nautical miles north of Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico, the Coast Guard said in a news release. The people didn't appear to be wearing life jackets.
Crews were able to pull 31 survivors from the water, a spokesperson with the US Coast Guard's 7th District told CNN. Eleven bodies have also been found, he said.
The search and rescue operation is ongoing, the agency said.
US Customs and Border Protection and Puerto Rican police are also on the scene, the spokesperson said. Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island and unincorporated US territory.
In March, hundreds of Haitians landed in sailboats on the Florida coast while over 100 were intercepted off the Bahamas by the US Coast Guard.
Haiti is struggling with a surge in gang-related violence that has killed dozens of people, including women and children, and caused thousands of families to flee their homes. Kidnappings also have spiked, including those of eight Turkish citizens who on Sunday were forced off a bus they had boarded in the Dominican Republic.
