BBC News | AMERICAS | Boat people wrecked in Bahamas

At least 14 Haitians have died from hypothermia and dehydration after a vessel carrying nearly 300 would-be illegal immigrants ran aground in the Bahamas.

The 15-metre (50-foot) wooden vessel was packed with people when it ran aground at Flamingo Cay, an uninhabited rocky outcrop 240km (150 miles) south-east of the Bahamian capital, Nassau.

The island has no fresh water or shelter of any kind.

The castaways were spotted by sailors on board a ship that had anchored off shore.

A doctor went ashore and alerted the United States Coast Guard.

Helicopters picked up 51 seriously ill people and flew them to hospitals in the northern Bahamas.

The Coast Guard sent water, food and medicine to the island aboard two cutters, which arrived on Thursday.

Two other boats were en route, and officials had requested the use of an army helicopter.

Deportation possible

Earlier on Thursday, the US border patrol found 15 illegal Haitian immigrants on a beach in Key Biscayne, Florida.

Protestors say Haitians are descriminated against

The 11 men and four women told the authorities that they had left Bimini in the Bahamas with two smugglers.

In the past week alone, more than 600 Haitians have landed in the Bahamas in three vessels.

Correspondents say it is a sign that boat people are desperate to flee the country's poverty and political violence before the hurricane season begins.

Many are bound for Florida.

Undocumented Haitians are deported if they manage to get to the US, whereas undocumented Cuban migrants have the legal right to stay.

Haitian-American activists in Florida say the discrepancy amounts to racial discrimination.


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