A boat carrying migrants capsized on the Caribbean coast of Panama, off the dangerous Darien jungle, leaving an unknown number of dead, Panamanian border police reported on Wednesday.
“Today in the early hours of the morning, information was received about the discovery of bodies of lifeless migrants by immersion,” says a statement from the National Border Service (Senafront).
The authority did not specify the number of victims, but indicated that “the boat in which they were traveling and trying to enter Panamanian territory capsized due to bad weather.”
He even explained that “the area in question is very complex for navigation, due to the strong waves, a product of the currents and winds” and depending on the time of year, “inclement rains” which makes navigation difficult.
The dreams that cross the Darién: in the footsteps of migrants in the jungle
The shipwreck occurred at dawn near Carreto Bay, an isolated town on the Atlantic coast of Darién in an area inhabited by the Guna Yala ethnic group, Senafront added.
“For now we do not have any information about the survivors” or the nationalities of the victims, a spokeswoman for the National Border Service told AFP. “We’re also not sure how many people were on the boat,” she added.
The border service also reported that “search patrols have been deployed and the corresponding coordination is being made with the public ministry and immigration authorities in order to recover the bodies, rescue survivors and pursue traffickers.”
Thousands of South American migrants, mainly Venezuelans, pass through Panama on the dangerous journey north. The Darién jungle, on the border with Colombia, has become a corridor for migrants from South America trying to reach the United States, through Central America and Mexico.
#Undetermined #number #migrants #die #shipwreck #Panama #Diario #Página