Puerto Rico: Coast Guard repatriates 63 migrants after intercepting an overloaded boat in the Mona Passage

San Juan, Puerto Rico — The U.S. Coast Guard repatriated 63 migrants to the Dominican Republic on Tuesday after intercepting an overloaded vessel in the waters of the Mona Passage, between the island and Dominican territory, the federal agency reported.

According to the official statement, the crew of the cutter Winslow Griesser transferred 63 of the 66 detained migrants to two Dominican Navy vessels. The other three remain in federal custody, subject to further investigation and possible charges for attempting to reenter the United States illegally.

The precarious, approximately 30-foot vessel —about nine meters long— was first detected by a Coast Guard surveillance aircraft about 70 nautical miles, roughly 130 kilometers, northwest of the coastal municipality of Aguadilla. The coast guard described the boat as excessively overloaded and in conditions that put the stability of the hull at risk.

On board were 55 men and four women who said they were citizens of the Dominican Republic, along with six men and one woman who said they were Haitian nationals, according to the maritime agency's report.

The new interception comes weeks after a late-September shipwreck near Mona Island, when a boat carrying 64 migrants capsized after a fight broke out on board in which several people were wounded with a machete. The Coast Guard rescued 49 people and recovered the lifeless bodies of three Dominicans; a dozen remain missing.

In early October, three Dominican nationals were charged in Puerto Rico for their alleged participation in that human-smuggling maritime operation. Both episodes underscore the risks of irregular migration voyages through the Mona Passage, a route used to try to reach U.S. territory from the Caribbean.

Photo: Diario del País

Source: Diario del País