A boat carrying migrants capsized on the Caribbean coast of Panama, in front of the inhospitable Darien jungle, leaving an undetermined number of deaths, the Panamanian border police reported this Wednesday.
The shipwreck occurred at dawn near Carreto Bay, an isolated town on the Atlantic coast of Darién in an area inhabited by the Guna Yala ethnic group, said the National Border Service (Senafront, border police).
“Today (Wednesday) in the early hours of the morning, information was received about the discovery of bodies of lifeless migrants due to immersion,” Senafront said in a statement, without specifying the number of victims, adding that it sent search patrols to the area of the shipwreck. .
The Panamanian channel TVN indicated on the confirmed by the authorities.
“At the moment we do not have survivor information nor do we have nationality, they are right now in the operation,” a Senafront spokeswoman told AFP.
For now we do not have survivor information nor do we have nationality, they are in the operation right now.
“We are also not sure of knowing how many were on that boat, because it is an illegal process, human trafficking, which is a crime,” he added.
Panama is a transit country for thousands of migrants from South America, mainly Venezuelans, heading to the United States. The vast majority enter the country by crossing the inhospitable Darién jungle on foot from Colombia, and then continue traveling through the rest of Central America and Mexico.
“Search patrols have been deployed and the corresponding coordination is being carried out with the authorities of the public ministry (prosecutor's office) and immigration in order to recover the bodies, rescue survivors and pursue the traffickers” of people who crewed the boat, Senafront said. , without specifying where the ship came from.
He added that The area of the shipwreck, near the border with Colombia, “is very complex for navigation due to the strong waves caused by the currents and winds”.
AFP
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