A shipwreck that occurred in front of the Darién Jungle, which connects Colombia with Panama, ended the lives of at least four migrants who were making the dangerous journey to the United States.
According to Panamanian authorities, the incident occurred on February 14, when the undocumented immigrants were traveling aboard a boat that ended up sinking due to bad weather conditions.
While the Panamanian government did not confirm the nationalities of the migrants, they revealed that another eight people are missing.
A preliminary report indicated that the migrants were being mobilized by human traffickers, who decided to cross a dangerous area of the sea that is close to the route known as Carreto.
The shipwreck once again highlights the dangers to which migrants are exposed when trying to reach the United States irregularly, especially in the Darién area, famous for claiming the lives of hundreds of undocumented immigrants each year.
In addition to natural hazards such as flooding, dangerous animals and difficult-to-navigate terrain, foreigners must also be prepared to face potential crimes such as murder, kidnapping and rape, as recent years have seen an increase in the number of criminal groups dedicated to taking advantage of migrants.
According to the Colombian media Timesome of these criminal groups have begun to use migrants to transport illegal substances against their will, this to introduce drugs into Panama.
William Zubieta, commander of the Urabá Police, in Colombia, indicated that criminals were taking advantage of the lack of economic resources of many of these undocumented immigrants to force them to transport cocaine, resorting to threats for those who refuse.
“Within the evidence that we have had, there are independent groups that are organized to do this migration work given that they are in the territories of influence of the Gulf Clan, some, as we have evidenced, give criminal income to this cartel,” he declared to the cited medium.
Update:
According to the director of the National Border Service (Senafront), Jorge Gobea, the majority of the migrants were Afghans, although he did not mention the nationality of the rest. Likewise, they indicated that the search for the bodies continued.
“We maintain the search efforts and coordination with the Public Ministry to move the officials and remove the bodies today (Thursday),” Gobea added in a press conference.
#migrants #died #shipwreck #Darién #Jungle
