a483; 14 Haitians die when boat capsizes off Bahamas (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     NASSAU, Bahamas, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Fourteen Haitian migrants drowned
when a sailboat carrying about 100 people capsized south of the Bahamas
capital, Nassau, Bahamian authorities said on Friday.
     The tragedy happened after the sloop was intercepted on Thursday by a
Royal Bahamas Defense Force patrol boat about 13 miles (21 km) south of New
Providence island, officials said.
     While some of the migrants were being transferred to the military
vessel, others rushed to one side of the sailboat, causing it to overturn
in rough seas, officials said.
     Ten of the victims -- seven men and three women -- were trapped inside
the submerged hull, while four more bodies were found floating nearby. The
Royal Bahamas Defense Force took the bodies to its Coral Harbour base in
Nassau late on Thursday.
     Haitians desperate to escape grinding poverty in their Caribbean
homeland frequently board small boats to attempt the 600-mile (970-km)
journey to Florida. Many end up stranded in the Bahamas, an archipelago of
more than 700 islands and keys between Haiti and the United States.
     The survivors were being processed in Nassau for repatriation to
Haiti.