LABOUR and Immigration Minister Keith Bell.
By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
FIFTEEN Haitian migrants who were onboard an ill-fated vessel that capsized in waters off New Providence last month will be repatriated to their homeland later this week, Immigration and Labour Minister Keith Bell said yesterday.
Mr Bell was asked for an update on the boating tragedy on the sidelines of the opening ceremony for the Caribbean Regional heads of government meeting yesterday.
He said the group will be among some 130 irregular Haitian migrants who are expected to be deported in a matter of days.
“As you all are aware, several persons were charged and are currently before the courts,” the minister told reporters yesterday. “As it relates to those survivors, this week we anticipate that we’re going to repatriate 130 irregular Haitian migrants and another 30 plus to Cuba and in that number going back to Haiti will be 15 migrants who were involved in that tragedy at sea.”
Police suspect that some 45 people were travelling to Florida from New Providence on July 24 when their boat capsized in rough seas near Blackbeard’s Cay.
The boating tragedy left 17 Haitians dead, including a pregnant woman and two minors, while several people are believed to be still missing.
According to officials, six of the 17 people who died from the tragedy have been identified.
Five of the victims are listed as follows: Mary Saimphorin, Kourtney Volmyr, Annette Mesidor, Bobley Fertilus, and Altanice Ivroy.
Yesterday, Mr Bell was asked to respond to reports that the government has given families of deceased victims a two-week deadline to collect their remains.
However, he dismissed the reports, saying there can be no deadline because officials wanted to exercise the “highest degree of humanity” as possible.
“I don’t know the specifics but certainly there can be no deadline,” Mr Bell said. “We are exercising the highest degree of humanity as we possibly can and we are continuing to work with the Haitian community and the Haitian pastors to ensure that the remains are identified and they’re given the highest degree of dignity and respect.”
It is not clear when the memorial for Haitian migrants who died at sea will be held; however local activist Louby Georges said he is hopeful that the event will happen at the end of the month.
“The sooner, the better but there’s a certain process again that we have to go through which is ongoing as we speak,” he said in a recent interview with The Tribune.
“I would say that we are maybe in the final stages. If you choose a funeral home then you know that the funeral home has to go to that morgue at that hospital to retrieve bodies to begin to prepare the bodies for a funeral so hopefully, by the end of this month it will be done.”
As for the burial costs, the Haitian government has already committed to covering the funeral expenses of unidentified victims who perished at sea last month.
Comments
Sickened 1 year, 8 months ago
Sending them back is inhumane. I JEST! Of course they need to be sent back
TalRussell 1 year, 8 months ago
In the immediate meantime as many are just this moment hearing how the Guardian's Talk Radio's The Revolution with Comrade Mr. Carmichael is temporarily live-on-air being taken over by 'crumbs dropping race division' reachin' its listeners' ... And to think the station's management cancelled the much tuned into informative talk show offering a uniquely positive perspective of the Haitian community in The Colony ― Yes?
tribanon 1 year, 8 months ago
The Tribune's pathetic and devious owners and editorial staff really take the cake!
For decades they allowed their news reporters to refer to these Haitian invaders as "illegal Haitian aliens". Then they started requiring their news reporters to call them "illegal immigrants". And now they require their reporters to say they are "irregular immigrants". You can see where this headed. In the not too distant future The Tribune's owners and editorial staff will require their news reporters affectionately refer to these illegal Haitian aliens as "Bahamian citizens in waiting". Yes indeed, The Tribune's owners and editorial staff are truly pathetic and most devious.
tribanon 1 year, 8 months ago
When will The Tribune's Editorial Staff ever shed a tear for the many thousands of Bahamians who have been made to suffer a miserable existence because of the invasion of their country by hordes of illegal Haitian aliens and their exponentially growing offspring?!
The tears of our corrupt government officials and The Tribune's Editorial Staff for these illegal Haitian aliens only serves to invite many more of them to come our way and does nothing for the crippling effect they have had on our public school system, public health system, social welfare programmes and our unsustainable national debt.
Where is The Tribune's compassion for the many thousands of suffering Bahamians who have cruelly been made to become second class citizens in their own country because of decades of successive corrupt governments refusing to protect our borders with a very hard-nosed but entirely warranted stance to illegal immigration??!!
And lest The Tribune Editorial Staff forgets, our problems with illegal Haitian aliens began long before the human trafficking trade became such a big profiteering part of highly organized criminal syndicates, both here at home and abroad.
Flyingfish 1 year, 8 months ago
There are only so many places you can load a boat on this island. What is so hard about looking at these few places. The Canals and gated communities are a great start.
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