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 News from Around the Americas | October 2007 
Victims of Shipwreck Off Mexican Coast Were Salvadoran Migrants Headed to U.S.
 Associated Press
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| | Mexican authorities resumed the search for survivors on the beaches and waterfront near the Oaxacan towns San Francisco Ixhuatan and San Francisco del Mar, about 200 miles from the Guatemalan border. |
San Salvador - Most of the passengers on a boat that capsized off Mexico's Pacific coast last week, killing at least 15, were Salvadoran migrants headed to the United States, President Tony Saca said on Sunday.
"This is a lamentable situation and we'll do everything we can to get the bodies back to their families," Saca vowed, saying a Salvadoran official had already traveled to Mexico's Oaxaca state to handle the recovery.
Mexican authorities resumed the search for survivors on the beaches and waterfront near the Oaxacan towns San Francisco Ixhuatan and San Francisco del Mar, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the Guatemalan border. The search was suspended Saturday because of heavy rain.
The Mexican navy believes the migrants' apparently overcrowded boat capsized in heavy seas and that nine people remain missing.
Survivor Noemi Martinez, 29, of El Salvador, told authorities the vessel left Guatemala with more than 20 migrants aboard and capsized Tuesday.
Mexican officials identified the only other known survivor as Salvadoran Walter Alan, 23.
The shipwreck suggests that migrant smugglers may be increasingly turning to boats to transport Central Americans through Mexico, avoiding highway checkpoints.
Illegal migrants who used to travel as stowaways on railway freight cars have been searching for new routes north after train service was interrupted on two railway lines earlier this year. |
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