The Christmas Day drownings of at least 18 Haitian migrants when their sailboat capsized off the Turks and Caicos Islands, has re-focused attention on the crisis of "desperation migration."

"We offer our condolences and deep sympathy to the families of those affected by this terrible incident," said Ambassador William Swing, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), "but we must also find ways to stem the root causes bringing people to risk all by taking to the high seas in flimsy craft," he said.

"The tragedy underscores the urgency of the international community taking decisive action to address the causes of what can only be described as 'desperation migration,'" he added.

The latest deaths occurred when a marine police unit of Turks and Caicos (a British Territory), intercepted an overcrowded fishing sloop and was towing it to shore. The Haitian vessel capsized as it approached land, leading to a frantic pre-dawn search and rescue attempt by the police. A 10-year-old child remains unaccounted for after authorities rescued 32 migrants and recovered the bodies of 18 Haitians in crystal clear water only 150 meters from land. A 12-year-old boy was one of those rescued.

The tragedy pushes the global number of migrants who have died this year while attempting to cross a border and find a new life to a record 2,378 according to IOM figures. This number is conservative and does not include many unrecorded deaths of African migrants who succumb while crossing the Horn of Africa or Sinai desert for example. On International Migrants Day, December 18th, IOM launched an appeal to save lives of migrants who end up in the hands of smugglers and take extraordinary risks while trying to improve their situation. This year the Caribbean along with the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, Australia's Christmas Island and the seas off Thailand and Indonesia have seen a dramatic increase in tragedies involving the deaths of dozens of migrants per episode.

The drownings off the Turks and Caicos island of Providenciales, occurred when migrants attempted to jump off one side of the 28-foot boat and flee on land rather than face arrest and deportation according to survivors. This caused the overloaded sloop to overturn while close to shore. Most of those who took the perilous journey were reportedly from the Haitian capital Port au Prince as well as northern city of Cap Haitien, a traditional embarkation point for irregular migrants trying to reach the united States. With the hurricane season almost over, the number of crossings increases at this time of the year through the month of April They each had paid between USD $500 and $1,000 for the journey and were apparently headed for Miami or the Bahamas as well as Turks and Caicos, where numerous Haitians work in construction ad tourist sector jobs. Those rescued are expected to be sent home to Haiti in the coming days and if experience is anything to go by, some may make the attempt again before too long. The remains of the 12 men and five women killed will be repatriated after autopsies formally establish cause of death.

Neither the crew and captain of the vessel or the human smugglers were identified as the police were focused on saving as many lives as possible. The Turks and Caicos provide a favoured route for people smugglers who slip through its cays, reefs and shallow waters. The same conditions make it treacherous for overloaded vessels.

In November, another overloaded sailing vessel overturned off the Bahamas with the loss of a further 30 lives. A sloop with some 200 Haitians aboard hit a reef off Turks and Caicos, in 2009 with 15 lives lost. Some 61 Haitians died when their boat capsized off shore Providenciales in May 2007.

For more information contact:

Leonard Doyle
IOM Spokesperson (a.i)
Tel: +41 79 285 7123
Email: ldoyle@iom.int

or

Niurka Piñeiro
Senior IOM Communication Officer
Tel: +1 202 684 0559
Email: npineiro@iom.int