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At Least 24 Bodies Wash Ashore in Southern Mexico
Saturday, October 20, 2007
MEXICO CITY - The bodies of two dozen people washed ashore Friday in
southern Mexico, a state official said, after a boat believed to be carrying
Central American migrants capsized in the Pacific Ocean.
Oaxaca's state government later released a statement saying three people
were confirmed dead and 20 others missing following the shipwreck. It said
there was one survivor and authorities were searching for bodies near the
towns of San Francisco Ixhuatan and San Francisco del Mar, about 200 miles
from the Guatemalan border.
It wasn't immediately possible to reconcile the different statements, but an
official said that flooding was impeding access to some of the remote
beaches.
Oaxaca state public safety secretary Sergio Segreste said 24 bodies had
washed ashore.
"This morning, we got a report that a vessel carrying undocumented migrants
had capsized or gone down," Segreste said. "The assumption is that the cause
of the accident was the rough weather."
Segreste said later that authorities had found two bodies in the community
of Pueblo Viejo based on information from a woman who survived the wreck.
The woman said about 26 passengers had been aboard the boat, Segreste said.
Segreste said the local government in San Francisco del Mar reported that it
had found 22 more bodies on the shore. But he added that public safety
officers hadn't been able to access the area because two rivers had flooded
there.
If confirmed to be migrants, it could be evidence that smugglers are
increasingly turning to boats to transport Central Americans through Mexico,
avoiding highway checkpoints.
Many illegal migrants have been stranded and looking for other ways north
since service was interrupted this year on two railway lines they once used
to hitch rides north on freight trains.
In August, thousands of U.S.-bound Central American migrants found
themselves stranded near the Guatemala border after Connecticut-based
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. withdrew from a 30-year concession to operate the
Chiapas-Mayab line. For decades, migrants had relied on the train to carry
them from to the U.S./Mexico border.
At Least 24 Bodies Wash Ashore in Southern Mexico
Saturday, October 20, 2007
MEXICO CITY - The bodies of two dozen people washed ashore Friday in
southern Mexico, a state official said, after a boat believed to be carrying
Central American migrants capsized in the Pacific Ocean.
Oaxaca's state government later released a statement saying three people
were confirmed dead and 20 others missing following the shipwreck. It said
there was one survivor and authorities were searching for bodies near the
towns of San Francisco Ixhuatan and San Francisco del Mar, about 200 miles
from the Guatemalan border.
It wasn't immediately possible to reconcile the different statements, but an
official said that flooding was impeding access to some of the remote
beaches.
Oaxaca state public safety secretary Sergio Segreste said 24 bodies had
washed ashore.
"This morning, we got a report that a vessel carrying undocumented migrants
had capsized or gone down," Segreste said. "The assumption is that the cause
of the accident was the rough weather."
Segreste said later that authorities had found two bodies in the community
of Pueblo Viejo based on information from a woman who survived the wreck.
The woman said about 26 passengers had been aboard the boat, Segreste said.
Segreste said the local government in San Francisco del Mar reported that it
had found 22 more bodies on the shore. But he added that public safety
officers hadn't been able to access the area because two rivers had flooded
there.
If confirmed to be migrants, it could be evidence that smugglers are
increasingly turning to boats to transport Central Americans through Mexico,
avoiding highway checkpoints.
Many illegal migrants have been stranded and looking for other ways north
since service was interrupted this year on two railway lines they once used
to hitch rides north on freight trains.
In August, thousands of U.S.-bound Central American migrants found
themselves stranded near the Guatemala border after Connecticut-based
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. withdrew from a 30-year concession to operate the
Chiapas-Mayab line. For decades, migrants had relied on the train to carry
them from to the U.S./Mexico border.
