Haitian migrants drowned near Bahamas

Up to twenty Haitian migrants are alleged to have drowned off the Bahamian coast after their boat capsized. A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said that only three people survived- two Haitians and a Honduran.

The two Haitians who made out alive may be deported according to a Bahamian immigration official. One news report alleged that recent food riots have served as an impetus for Haitians to leave their country by any means necessary:

"I will leave with the next boat going to Miami because I can no longer resist this hunger," Marcel Jonassaint, 34, told Reuters on Tuesday as he sat barefoot near the dock in Montrouis, throwing a handful of small rocks into the ocean.

"I have four children and I don't have a job and everything is expensive, even for those who are working," Jonassaint said. "So what do you want me to do?"…

"I left earlier this year. Our boat was intercepted in the high seas, but I will try again," said 29-year-old Rachel Chavanne. "I know some people, like a cousin of mine, who had a successful trip there.

Sources- Associated Press, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, Xinhua, CNN

Image- MSNBC (“Hundreds of Haitians wait for food at a U.N. distribution center in Port-au-Prince on April 18 in the wake of rioting in the country.”)