Archbishop calls for international efforts after 17 migrants from Haiti die in rough seas in the Bahamas

File image | Ben Wiid / Unsplash (CC0)

CNA Newsroom, Jul 25, 2022 / 10:45 am

The archbishop of Nassau in the Bahamas reacted with sadness at the news of a boat carrying migrants from Haiti capsizing off the coast of the Bahamas on Sunday, calling for international efforts to remove the reasons migrants risk their lives to leave their homelands in the first place.

Seventeen bodies were recovered by rescue teams, including one infant, according to a statement by Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis, who said the migrants were believed to be on their way to Miami.

So far, 25 survivors were brought to safety and eight are believed to be missing.

In a statement provided by email to CNA on July 25, Archbishop Patrick C. Pinder said: “As a community of faith, we hold firmly in our prayers all those who have perished or those who have been impacted by this tragedy at sea. We hold dear our belief that every human life is sacred. Every human life has dignity.”

The Royal Bahamas Police Force told media the boat capsized near Blackbeard’s Cay, about seven miles off the island of New Providence.

Pinder noted that “two men are in police custody following the tragedy,” and Davis condemned “the organization of smuggling operations, which risk human life.”

Referring to the high levels of crime and poverty in Haiti, the Bahamian prime minister said: “I understand the situation that many of these migrants face that would encourage them to take such a great risk.”

Davis appealed to anyone considering “making such a voyage, not to.”

In his statement to CNA, Pinder said: “We encourage and support international efforts that seek to mitigate the conditions, whether social, economic, or political, which cause migrants to leave their homeland and risk their lives in search of a better way of life for themselves and their families.”

The U.S. Coast Guard reported on June 29 that it had intercepted 1,527 Haitian migrants in the last fiscal year, up from 418 migrants in the previous year.

AC Wimmer is founding Editor-in-Chief of CNA Deutsch. The multilingual Australian, raised in Bavaria and South Africa, held senior roles at Australia's SBS and served as editor-in-chief of the historic Münchner Kirchenzeitung. A graduate in Philosophy and Chinese Studies from the University of Melbourne, Anian Christoph Wimmer — Chinese name 刘威猛 — sat on the jury of the Media Award of the German Bishops’ Conference, is a former Honorary Research Fellow in Communications at the University of Melbourne and served on the Board of Caritas in Munich.