At least 10 Haitian migrants were killed and 100 others fell into the water after an overloaded freighter capsized in the Bahamas, the US Coast Guard said today.
"The migrants were clinging to the hull of the grounded 40-foot (12-metre) sail freighter when rescue crews arrived," the Coast Guard said, in a statement.
The vessel ran aground and then capsized off the coast of Staniel Clay in the central Bahamas last evening, it said.
A Coast Guard MH-60 helicopter hoisted 13 people to safety and delivered a rescue raft. Two other aircraft, a HC-144 and a C-130, dropped food, supplies and eight additional life rafts, it said.
The Bahamian defense force, which first alerted the Coast Guard of the accident, also sent a patrol boat to help with rescue efforts.
"We are continuing to search" Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Mark Barney told AFP, warning that more Haitians might still be alive and stranded in the water.
All the passengers who had been clinging to the hull have since been safely taken off on to rafts or otherwise rescued, he said.
