PORT AU PRINCE: At least 40 illegal migrants are feared dead in a fire that erupted in their boat near the Haitian port in the Carribean Sea, media reports stated on Saturday.
According to the reports, 81 illegal migrants were on board the small ship when it caught fire. Rescuers in the sea reached the ship and saved 41 of the travellers while the remaining 40 were dead.
The media reports quoted the International Organization for Migration as saying that the ship was going yo an island 220 km off Haiti.
Local people said that the passengers were lighting candles as a local tradition to ensure their travel when petrol accumulated on parts of the boat caught fire.
It may be mentioned here that hundreds of thousands of people the world over migrate to other areas in search of greener pastures and during these illegal movement end up in tragedies, mostly in the sea.
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