Following the sinking of a sailboat charged with migrants, occurred on the night of Wednesday to Thursday off the Haitian coast near the locality "Nan Bak", about 160 km north of Port-au-Prince and Port Margot, https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13574-haiti-flash-21-boat-people-perish-off-the-haitian-coast.html whose provisional toll is 21 dead, 12 survivors and 19 missing persons; the Haitian Coast Guard requested air assets to the U.S. Coast Guard, to assist it in the search for survivors or recover the bodies of missing persons.

Friday morning, a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew forward deployed in Great Inagua , Bahamas, conducted a first light search Friday morning, searching between Cap Haitien, Haiti, and Port de Paix, Haiti, but did not find anything. Despite a wind of 10 knots and waves of 5 feet, the search continues, both by sea and by air "Our crews are searching with every intention to find these missing people and bring them back to their loved ones," declared Capt. Mark Fedor, Coast Guard 7th District chief of response. "The sad truth remains that many have already perished and the Coast Guard urges all to reconsider taking the dangerous and illegal voyage at sea. Our condolences go out to all affected by this tragedy."

In addition, Eric Prévost Junior, the Director General of Maritime Navigation Service of Haiti (SEMANAH) indicated that justice had issued an arrest warrant against Luchner, the ship's captain, who was shipwrecked. According to Mr. Prevost, Captain Luchner is accused of having organized the clandestine journey by extorting citizens, to bring them to the island of Providence located in the Turks & Caicos Islands (200 km north of Haiti).

HL/ HaitiLibre