242 set sail on doomed search for a better life

by on 2 Feb 2009 This is the 50ft sailing boat in which an amazing 242 desperate would-be migrants set off from Haiti to cross unknown waters seeking an imagined better life in the USA. Among the passengers were children, an infant, and a eight-month pregnant woman.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Diligence returned the Haitian migrants to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday after the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Seneca located the grossly overloaded sail freighter about 25 miles west of Ile de la Tortue, Haiti, Monday night.

To achieve their goal, the 242 aboard the boat would have had about 1700 nautical miles to cover. Overloaded as she was, she would take at least two weeks with the most favourable conditions to reach the shores of the USA. It was an expedition bound for tragic failure. Even carrying enough water, let alone food, for 242 people, would have been a challenge.

It was while on a routine Caribbean Sea law enforcement patrol that the Seneca crew spotted the overloaded vessel and immediately began rescue efforts due to the large number of migrants aboard the unseaworthy vessel and rapidly increasing seas and winds in the area.

As weather conditions continued to deteriorate, a small percentage of migrants became aggressive and attempted to force their way onto the Coast Guard smallboats. A few migrants fell overboard from the sail freighter and were immediately recovered in good condition by Coast Guard smallboat crewmembers.

Despite the deteriorating weather conditions and aggressive attempts by a small percentage of migrants to jump into the small boats, no migrants or rescuers were injured during the extensive effort to safely disembark the 242 migrants from the vessel. .

'If not for the patrol presence of our cutters off the coast of Haiti, there easily could have been a major loss of life in this ill-advised attempt to reach the United States illegally,' said Capt. Peter Brown, Seventh District chief of law enforcement.

'Alien Migrant Interdiction Operations are as much humanitarian missions as they are border security missions. The Coast Guard will continue to rescue Haitian migrants from their peril at sea and will always do so in a professional manner that preserves the dignity of all people.'

All migrants were safely transferred to the cutter Diligence and provided basic medical care, food, water and shelter from the elements.

About Haiti:
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. 80% of its nine million people live below the poverty line, with 54% in abject poverty. The country has been plagued by political violence for most of its history, and the country is prone to natural disasters. In 2008 alone, four tropical storms severely damaged the transportation infrastructure and the agricultural sector.

The country continues to attempt to recover. Since 2005, until the four tropical storms which severy damaged it last year, it had registered positive growth. Haiti is expected to receive debt forgiveness for about $525 million of its debt through the Highly-Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative by mid-2009. The government relies on formal international economic assistance for fiscal sustainability.

The Coast Guard has rescued and returned 599 Haitian migrants since Jan. 1.