At least five people have been killed in a collision between a motorboat carrying migrants and a Cuban coastguard boat. This is reported by the Cuban authorities. Eighteen people could be saved.
The accident happened off the coast of Bahia Honda, in western Cuba, about two hours from the capital Havana. Three women, a man and a minor girl were killed, the Cuban Interior Ministry said in a press release.
The boat, which was en route with the migrants to Florida, “violated Cuban territorial waters as part of a people smuggling operation,” the Cuban ministry said. The collision happened as the Coast Guard sought to verify the identities of the occupants.
The US embassy in Havana expressed its condolences on Twitter. “As we strengthen safe and legal migration routes, we continue to warn against dangerous and sometimes deadly attempts at illegal migration.”
Shortages of food, medicine and fuel, linked to frequent power cuts, have seen the number of Cuban migrants rise to the highest level in 40 years, the AP news agency reported. Most Cubans depart by plane to Nicaragua and then travel overland to the US border, often to Texas and Arizona. But a growing number are trying to make the perilous crossing to the south coast of the United States by boat. Between October 2021 and August 2022, the US Coast Guard intercepted more than 4,600 Cubans traveling by boat, nearly six times more than in all of 2020.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.
#Cuban #coast #guard #collides #migrant #boat #dead