BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 25th October 2019) – A total of at least 49 nationals of Haiti (including a child) are currently in police custody after one boat carrying 15 individuals allegedly overturned in St.Kitts waters while another vessel reportedly had an emergency, within four (4) days this week.

The Chief Immigration Officer Merclyn Hughes has confirmed that MV Ocean King was escorted to the pier at the Coast Guard base at about 9 pm on Wednesday 23^rd October 2019 with 35 persons – 34 of them are believed to be nationals of Haiti and one a national of Dominica.

Reportedly, Four (4) persons were taken to the J.N.F. Hospital for treatment and observation. However, two of them have since been discharged and have joined the others who are currently in custody. 

Cellphone images circulated via social media show the non-nationals at an area believed to be the coast guard base in the presence of officers attached to that unit as well as members of the Defence Force as well as the vessel allegedly used.

According to the Immigration Department received yesterday (Thursday): “ The French Coast Guard rescued the M.V. Ocean King which sent an emergency distress signal on October 23, 2019 and handed the vessel over to the St. Kitts and Nevis Coast Guard as the closest port to the boat.” 

Furthermore, the department “is in the process of conducting interviews with the individuals to ascertain the details of their circumstances and to verify their port of embarkation, as well as the intended port of disembarkation.”

Reportedly, among the 34 individuals, one “is a juvenile.”

Police reported three days earlier that a group of Haitians found in the Bird Rock area on Sunday 20^th October 2019 said that the boat they were travelling on overturned.

According to the Public Relations Department, police responded to the report sometime after 6 p.m. that a group of persons had been found in the Bird Rock area claiming that their boat had capsized.

It is said that as a result, fifteen (15) nationals of Haiti – thirteen (13) men and two (2) women – were taken into custody, and that police handed the persons and their documents over to the Immigration Department the next day (Monday 21^st October).

Each individual was expected to receive a medical checkup.

The police and coast guard unit The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force and the St. Kitts-Nevis Coast Guard continue to look into this matter; a subject which has been widely debated by members of the public with many individuals voicing speculations and demanding answers.