Authorities searched for potential survivors off Puerto Rico’s northwest coast Thursday after a crowded boat capsized, killing at least two people.
The U.S. Coast Guard said officers rescued 30 occupants of the boat that capsized Wednesday near the coastal town of Camuy. Two of them were hospitalized for unspecified reasons, including a woman who is four months pregnant.
Survivors estimated that the boat was carrying between 30 to 50 passengers, the Coast Guard said in a statement. It wasn’t immediately clear from where the boat had departed, although the vast majority of migrants who try to reach Puerto Rico are from Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The number of people traveling to the U.S. territory from the Dominican Republic on rickety and crowded vessels has increased as Haiti struggles with a spike in gang violence and deepening poverty.
Crossing the 92-mile (148-kilometer) Mona Passage, a strait between the island of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico is treacherous, with dozens of migrants reported drowned in recent years. The Dominican Republic and Haiti share Hispaniola.
