BOGOTÁ (AP) — A group of 34 migrants, most of them from Bangladesh, were rescued alive aboard a boat that intended to cross the border with Panama via irregular routes, Colombian authorities reported on Tuesday.
The vessel was detected in the Caribbean Sea on Friday night by the Colombian Navy. In the presence of the authorities, the person who was crewing the boat fled into the sea to avoid being caught for the crime of smuggling migrants.
Colombia is a transit country used for the smuggling of migrants who seek to reach the north of the continent, especially the United States, by irregular routes. Human trafficking networks often drive victims through the dangerous jungle of the Darién Gap, which connects to Panama, or carry them overnight by sea to the Panamanian coast in unauthorized boats.
“When we detected the boat it was in transit on its way to cross the border by sea. It was found in the vicinity of Cabo Tiburón, Colombia's last coastal point on the border with Panama,” commander of the Urabá Coast Guard Station, frigate captain Jaime González Zamudio, told The Associated Press.
On board, 29 Bangladeshis were identified, three Venezuelans, one Ecuadorian and one Indian. González Zamudio indicated that there were two minors among the migrants.
Migrants were placed at the disposal of Migration Colombia because they did not have documentation that “proves their entry and transit in the country,” the Navy said in a statement.
“It is not abnormal that there are migrants from Bangladesh, it is common for migration phenomena to occur by groups of one nationality,” said Captain González Zamudio.
In the first months of this year, there was an unusual and high traffic of migrants who tried to cross into Panama through the Darién jungle. Most were Haitians who were in Brazil and Chile, where they arrived years ago fleeing the earthquake that struck their native country in 2010 and subsequent political crises.
“There are hypotheses that the Gulf Clan (illegal armed group) may be somehow controlling the illegal transport of migrants. Although there are also people who do it in a particular way to have economic returns in the face of the need of migrants,” González Zamudio explained.
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