Haitian survivors say they were left for dead

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald/Associated Press

Posted on Thu, May. 10, 2007
Haitian survivors say they were left for dead
BY STEVENSON JACOBS
Associated Press

CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti -- Survivors of a capsizing that killed at least 61 Haitian migrants said Thursday that crewmen aboard a Turks and Caicos patrol boat rammed them, towed them into deeper water and abandoned them after their vessel overturned.

''They just left us out there,'' said Dona Daniel, 23, one of a half-dozen survivors who were interviewed by The Associated Press immediately after being repatriated to Haiti from the nearby British territory. The other Haitians corroborated Daniel's account of the tragedy in the pre-dawn hours of last Friday.

They said their sailboat, loaded with an estimated 160 people, was minutes away from the shore of Providenciales, one of the Turks and Caicos Islands, when the patrol boat rammed them.

''When they hit us the first time, water rushed into the boat and everybody screamed,'' Daniel said, adding that the patrol boat crew ordered the migrants to lower their sails, threw them a line and began towing them into deeper water. The boat then capsized.
Lovderson Nacon, 19, said many of the migrants didn't know how to swim and were screaming ''God help me!'' in the darkness.

Migrants interviewed by AP said people who desperately tried to pull themselves aboard the Turks and Caicos patrol boat were beaten back with wooden batons.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/579/story/102670.html

[midnight]

1. Regardless of the details of this sailboats arrival to the shore

of Providenciales, this is just bizzare behavior by the patrol boat.

[tkmorris]

2. I long for the day........

I long for the day when such an act is called murder, and the perpetrators are put into prison for the rest of their lives.

It won't be soon though. Such an act as this is routine, and has been for, well, since forever. The only thing remarkable about this instance is that someone reported it.

:cry:

[dipsydoodle]

3. ........ the U.N. had no further comment

and that the issue was between the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Odd that we're called mankind. That outfit should change its name to the Selective United Nations.

here's the Beeb link : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6645157.stm