Venezuela says ‘overloading’ caused deadly migrants
CARACAS - Authorities in Venezuela have said a boat carrying dozens of migrants towards Trinidad and Tobago sank earlier this month because there were too many people on board. In a statement on Friday, the country’s interior and justice department said 41 people were in the boat that was equipped to carry only eight people.
“The main cause of the sinking was the overloading of the boat,” it said. The department also said people “did not have life jackets or safety equipment necessary for navigation” and poor weather conditions had created large waves measuring two to three metres. Venezuelan officials have said 29 people died when the boat sank on December 6 about 20km (12 miles) from the coastal town of Guiria in the country’s northeastern state of Sucre. The victims’ loved-ones told AFP news agency that 34 bodies have been found. William
Spindler, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Latin America, told Al Jazeera in an email on December 18 that local nonprofit groups and Venezuelan authorities had indicated that children and a pregnant woman were among the bodies found. “We are appalled at this tragedy which shows the dangers that desperate refugees and migrants take in search of protection or a better life,” Spindler said.
About 5.4 million Venezuelan refugees and asylum seekers have sought refuge outside the country, which faces dire economic and political crises, according to the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UNHCR says there has been an 8,000 percent increase in the number of Venezuelans seeking refugee status since 2014. Most have gone to other countries in Latin America.
The groups said in a statement this month that 16,000 Venezuelans were registered by the Trinidad and Tobago government in May 2019. “This is the second recorded shipwreck off Venezuela this year. In 2019, three boats were reported missing between Venezuela and the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Curaçao, with the loss of at least 80 lives,” the organisations said. Residents of Guiria held funeral processions earlier this month after some of the bodies were recovered.
(Al Jazeera)