Asylum and Migration
At least two dead after boat capsizes off Puerto Rico coast
A makeshift boat carrying approximately sixty people capsized in open sea near the uninhabited Mona Island off the coast of Puerto Rico, resulting in at least two deaths and forty rescues. The U.S. Coast Guard reported that the vessel overturned following a fight involving a machete, leaving passengers adrift for over twelve hours without life jackets before being spotted by a passing ship. This incident highlights the dangers of the Mona Passage, a common migrant route from Hispaniola to Puerto Rico. In June 2022, eleven Haitian women and girls died in a similar accident northwest of the island. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory where residents hold American nationality but cannot vote in presidential or congressional elections.
Ozetta summarises; the reporting is the newsroom's