A hundred Haitian migrants were rescued Tuesday by a fishing boat off Colombia, in the Caribbean Sea, while they were drifting on a boat after being abandoned by a smuggler, announced the Colombian navy.
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The migrants, who were trying to reach Panama, said they were "
abandoned
" after an engine failure in their boat carrying 61 adults and 33 children, captain Octavio Gutierrez, a commander of the coast guard, told AFP. .
The smuggler called for help another boat on board which he "
boarded leaving behind
" the migrants off Acandi, in the department of Choco (northeast), where they were rescued by a fishing boat who brought them back to the coast.
They were then loaded onto rescue boats by the coast guard.
According to Captain Gutierrez, the migrants explained that they were fleeing the economic crisis in Haiti.
They were handed over to the migration authorities.
The Gulf of Uraba, located in Colombia, very close to the border with Panama, where the boat was rescued, is one of the main transit points for African, Asian and Haitian migrants trying to reach Central America, to then reach the United States.
But "
since last year (...) we had not discovered a boat with so many people
" on board, said Captain Gutierrez.
According to him, the arrivals of migrants had been reduced since a sinking in January 2019 of a boat carrying about thirty Africans.
The sinking had killed at least 19 people, including children.
In addition, Colombia has closed its borders due to the coronavirus pandemic.