The United States and international partners interdicted a Haitian vessel trapped at sea on Monday, with 240 people on board attempting to illegally enter the United States.
The vessel was first spotted on May 31, roughly 65 nautical miles south of Turks and Caicos, a cluster of islands located southeast of the Bahamas.
“The vessel, a 50-foot Haitian wooden boat equipped with two outboard engines, was heading north toward the islands,” Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a June 4 statement.
A monitoring aircraft from the U.S. Coast Guard reported that the vessel “lost one engine and was slowly taking on water. Occupants were seen bailing three to five gallons of water per minute.” …