Brazil says 19 missing refugees feared drowned off Bahamas
At least 19 Brazilians who had gone missing last month while trying to illegally reach the United States shores are suspected to have drowned off the Bahamas, officials in Brasilia say.
“The fear is that the boat the Brazilians were traveling in went down in the Caribbean as it left the Bahamas,” a statement on the official Brazilian government information website, Portal Brasil, read on Monday.
There has been no news of the refugees since November 6, when they boarded the boat, according to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.
The ministry, however, refused to definitively rule out other potential reasons for the disappearance of the refugees, such as being held captive.
There were likely dozens of other refugees also aboard the boat.
Officials suspect the vessel had capsized while sailing through the 80-kilometer crossing between the Bahamas and the Florida coast.
“The Brazilian embassy in Nassau, Bahamas and the Brazilian consulate in Miami, Florida are in contact with family members and Caribbean and US authorities to try to locate the missing persons," said Portal Brasil.
Despite patrols of the coasts by the US Coast Guard and its Bahamian counterpart, there is as of yet no report of the discovery of a potential shipwreck.
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