The African and Haitian migrants who were on a shipwreck on Friday night in Bahía Salinas, in the North Pacific of Costa Rica, had been housed in La Cruz de Guanacaste before the accident. This was confirmed by the Ministry of Public Security.
At least 50 people from different countries were traveling in two boats that were shipwrecked. The Costa Rican authorities rescued at least 48 of them. In addition, one person died drowned and one minor is still missing.
When they arrived in the country through Paso Canoas, the Immigration Police regulated their status and gave them basic medical care at the Migrant Temporary Care Center (Catem) in La Cruz de Guanacaste.
Nevertheless, in their condition of free transit, they decided to look for coyotes to help them in their trip towards the north of the continent. In this case, the coyotes jumped from the boats and fled.
Nicaragua does not allow them to transit through their country, so they resort to such irregular mechanisms and risk their lives,
said Carlos Hidalgo, a spokesman for the MSP.
According to the preliminary count (that does not include all the migrants), there are 13 people from the Democratic Republic of Congo, one from Ethiopia, on from Somalia, two from Ghana, and two Haitian people.
All the victims were transferred to Puerto Soley in the province of Guanacaste, where they receive attention from the Red Cross and Firemen. They were then housed in the Catem, located in the border of La Cruz.