Turks and Caicos police begin 4th day of search for survivors from Haitian shipwreck

Island police keep up search for Haitian survivors

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos — Police boats circled an uninhabited island Thursday looking for dozens of Haitian migrants missing from a deadly shipwreck, but rescuers had little hope of finding any survivors as the search entered its fourth day.

The U.S. Coast Guard called off its search late Wednesday afternoon after a 52-hour operation that covered more than 1,500 square miles (3,800 square kilometers) of ocean.

Hubert Hughes, the deputy commissioner of police in the Turks and Caicos Islands, said authorities decided to keep up their search in part because a survivor was found Wednesday afternoon on West Caicos. The young man was the last of the 119 survivors to be found and the first in more than a day.

“We just want to make sure we do a thorough search,” Hughes said, adding that marine patrol boats are focusing on the waters around West Caicos. “I doubt very much we will find a survivor at this stage.”

Fifteen migrants were confirmed dead from the sailboat that ran aground on a reef as it traveled north from Haiti, spilling an estimated 200 Haitians into the sea Sunday night. Most of the survivors were found the next day clinging to jagged coral reefs.

The Coast Guard had been searching with two airplanes, a helicopter and a cutter.

“The decision to suspend this search is particularly difficult because we believe there were many people onboard this vessel that have not been recovered and are presumed lost at sea,” said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steve Branham. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who were lost.”

Survivors said they paid $500 apiece for the journey to the Turks and Caicos, a tourism-dependent British territory where there are jobs in construction and maintenance.

Hughes said police have opened an investigation to determine the identities of the smugglers.