NASSAU, BAHAMAS – A motorized wooden vessel with 177 Haitian migrants on board was
intercepted approximately 30 miles south of Inagua around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12, 2019.
The apprehension was a joint effort of Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos (OPBAT), the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF).
“Due to the safety of life at sea concerns, the unsanitary and
un-seaworthy status of the migrant vessel, all of the migrants were
transferred to the United States Coast Guard Cutter and the migrant
vessel was destroyed,” the RBDF said in a statement issued yesterday. “They will be repatriated to Haiti by the USCG Cutter.”
