THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 5, 1994 TAG: 9407050237
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID BEARD, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ST. MARC, HAITI LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
As many as 150 Haitians may have died in the capsizing of a boat packed with 200 of them fleeing toward America, survivors and local witnesses say.
After the boat overturned off Haiti's west coast Monday, survivors said dozens drowned. It was the second refugee calamity at sea since a liberalized U.S. immigration policy took effect June 16.
A refugee surge which critics say was triggered by that policy turned into a tidal wave Monday, with the U.S. Coast Guard intercepting 3,247 boat people in 70 boats, doubling the previous single-day high of May 1992.
``Not only have we broken our record, we broke our record big-time,'' Coast Guard spokeswoman Toni Long-Gay said.
Coast Guard boats have intercepted about 10,000 Haitians in the past 11 days and more than 54,000 since the military overthrew elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in September 1991.
Panama's government agreed Monday to accept up to 10,000 Haitians. But that would help for only several days if the exodus continues at its current pace.
The Haitians are fleeing rising poverty and political persecution. Up to 3,000 political killings have occurred since Aristide was deposed. A U.N. human rights mission says 30 political killings occurred in June.
President Clinton's new policy permits boat people to appeal for political asylum. It followed intensified economic sanctions imposed on Haiti.
Clinton has not ruled out a military invasion to topple Haiti's military leaders and restore Aristide to power.
Monday's capsizing followed a June 23 accident in which at least 30 people died when a refugee boat listed off Haiti's south coast. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Haitians don life vests after their 55-foot boat is intercepted by
the Coast Guard.
KEYWORDS: HAITI by CNB