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 NAGUA,
Dominican Republic (AP) - Migrants lost at sea for nearly
two weeks without food and water said Wednesday more than
40 people died during the trip, and at least one woman
who refused to give breast milk to passengers was thrown
overboard into shark-infested waters.
Many of the 86 people crammed into the
wooden boat, about 30 feet long and 10 feet wide, bound
for the nearby U.S. territory of Puerto Rico became hysterical
when provisions ran out after three days, said Faustina
Santana.
Santana was one of 39 migrants found alive
Tuesday near this small fishing village, not far from
where the boat originally departed.
``People just jumped off,'' Santana, 27,
said from the hospital. ``They were going crazy.''
Survivors said at least 45 people died
during the journey. Of the survivors who were found on
Tuesday, eight died in the hospital and many more are
in critical condition.
Three women were seen crying on Wednesday,
slumped over the body of 24-year-old Johano del Orbe,
who died of dehydration in the hospital.
The boat left the Dominican Republic on
July 29 and it had almost reached the Puerto Rican island
of Desecheo in two days when its engine failed. It was
then that the captain abandoned ship, getting on another
passing migrant boat and saying he would return with help.
The migrants said they paid $450 for the
trip. The captain never returned.
The boat began drifting out to sea and
by the third day all of the water and food - chocolate,
peanuts and sardines - had run out. The passengers shared
one coconut they found floating in the sea but panic had
already started to set in.
Many people - mostly older men - began
dying on the fifth day, the same day the men began demanding
that women, even those who were not lactating, provide
breast milk.
Two lactating women offered their breast
milk to passengers. One who refused to share her milk
was thrown overboard by male passengers, Santana said,
although some survivors said the woman was pushed overboard
after she was already dead.
``One woman refused to give breast milk
and the men aboard grabbed her from behind and threw her
overboard,'' Santana said. ``They told me to give milk,
and I said I couldn't.''
The survivors interviewed by The Associated
Press said there were no children aboard.
Vernanva de La Cruz, 19, was one of the
women who offered her breast milk to more than eight people.
She left her two children, one of whom is six-months-old,
at home to make the trip.
The other woman who gave up her milk died
after helping nearly a dozen people. ``People started
biting her everywhere to get at her nipples,'' de La Cruz
said from her hospital bed. ``She had bruises everywhere
when she died.''
It was unclear when or how the woman died,
said de La Cruz, who did not know what happened to the
third woman who Santana said was thrown overboard.
Rafael Emilio Chalas, director of the
Antonio Yapor Hospital in Nagua - 112 miles northeast
of Santo Domingo and about 30 miles from El Limon where
the boat left - told a Dominican radio station Tuesday
that some people said they resorted to cannibalism to
survive.
One survivor, however, said the migrants
decided against it.
``Some wanted to eat the dead bodies,
just their ears, but others of us said 'no,' and if we're
going to die, we'll all die together,'' said Ramon Ballano,
40, another survivor.
Worried relatives notified authorities
when they did not hear from their loved ones in the days
after they left. The journey to Puerto Rico can take a
day in good weather.
Dozens of relatives filled hospital corridors
Wednesday looking for their loved ones. A funeral for
some of the victims was planned for Wednesday afternoon.
The wary father of one passenger entered
Santana's hospital room, showed her a picture of his son
and asked if he was among those who jumped. She looked
at the photo and shook her head, saying the man jumped
overboard but couldn't say when.
``It's way too many lives lost needlessly,''
said Lt. Eric Willis, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard,
which sent cutters and planes to search for the migrants.
``And they keep coming.''
There has been a huge influx of Dominican
migrants to Puerto Rico in the past year as inflation
in their Caribbean homeland has topped 30 percent, unemployment
has reached 16 percent and blackouts plague the nation.
More than 7,000 Dominican migrants have
been detained trying to reach wealthier Puerto Rico since
Oct. 1, more than twice the number for the previous 12
months.
``What I earn doesn't give us enough,''
said Ballano. ``I had no future here.''
At least 60 migrants have been confirmed
dead in the Mona Passage, a shark-infested and rough channel
between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. But the
number of fatalities are likely higher, Coast Guard authorities
say.
There were nine confirmed migrant deaths
in the Mona Passage last year.
The migrants' boat, called a yola, had
no seats and no oars. After the engine failed, passengers
put up a makeshift flag made from a white T-shirt, hoping
that other passing boats would stop to help.
On Monday, the Dominican Navy rescued
19 boat migrants stranded at sea for two days after their
outboard motor failed. They were treated for dehydration.
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