A desperate nighttime voyage across one of the Caribbean’s most dangerous stretches of water turned deadly after a makeshift boat carrying 62 people capsized near Puerto Rico following a violent machete attack, authorities said.
At least three people have died, 49 have been rescued and 10 remained missing as crews searched the waters surrounding Mona Island, according to the latest update from the U.S. Coast Guard.
The disaster unfolded late Sunday, September 27, approximately 10 miles from Mona Island, a remote and uninhabited island between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Authorities said survivors reported that a violent confrontation erupted aboard the overloaded vessel shortly before it capsized.
According to the Coast Guard, one person allegedly attacked others with a machete, seriously injuring passengers and triggering panic aboard the boat.
Terrified passengers began jumping into the Caribbean and attempting to swim toward Mona Island.
None of the 62 people aboard were wearing life jackets, officials said.
The makeshift vessel capsized at approximately 11 p.m., leaving dozens of people scattered through the water in darkness.
What followed was a grueling fight for survival.
Some of the passengers remained in the open sea for more than 12 hours before anyone realized they were there.
The emergency was not reported until around noon Monday, when the crew of the passing motor vessel Tripiti spotted people in the water.
Crew members aboard the ship rescued four survivors and immediately notified Coast Guard Sector San Juan.
That call triggered a major multi-agency search operation around Mona Island.
Helicopters, Coast Guard cutters and other aircraft began combing the surrounding waters while rescuers searched Mona Island itself for survivors who may have managed to reach shore.
By Tuesday, authorities had rescued 49 people.
Three others were recovered dead.
Ten people were still unaccounted for.
The identities of those who died had not been publicly released.
Coast Guard spokesperson Ricardo Castrodad said the machete attack apparently caused widespread panic aboard the vessel, although officials have not publicly explained what sparked the confrontation.
The circumstances surrounding the alleged attack remain under investigation.
Castrodad said the passing vessel that discovered the survivors likely prevented an even larger loss of life.
The people aboard had already spent hours struggling in the water with no life jackets and no apparent way to alert rescuers.
Officials now say most of the people aboard were migrants from the Dominican Republic, while two were believed to be from Haiti.
Authorities have not said exactly where the vessel departed from.
Survivors brought ashore were being turned over to U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection as federal authorities continued investigating the voyage.
The incident occurred in the Mona Passage, the roughly 80-mile-wide stretch of water separating Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic.
Although the distance may appear manageable, the passage is notoriously hazardous.
Strong currents, changing weather and rough seas can quickly overwhelm the small and often poorly equipped vessels used for unauthorized maritime crossings.
Mona Island itself sits roughly midway through the passage and is largely undeveloped.
That isolation meant the passengers who jumped overboard Sunday night faced hours in open water before help arrived.
Video released during the rescue operation showed survivors gathered near the overturned vessel and rescuers searching the rocky shoreline of Mona Island.
The latest tragedy is far from the first deadly migrant voyage in the region.
In May 2022, another overloaded vessel capsized north of Puerto Rico while transporting migrants, killing 11 Haitian women and girls.
Thirty-eight people were rescued in that disaster.
Federal authorities have continued intercepting makeshift vessels throughout the Caribbean as migrants attempt dangerous maritime journeys toward Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other destinations.
Five days before the latest capsizing, authorities in the Turks and Caicos Islands intercepted another makeshift vessel carrying approximately 60 Haitian migrants.
Haiti in particular remains caught in a severe humanitarian crisis fueled by widespread gang violence, political instability and displacement.
United Nations agencies have estimated that roughly 1.5 million people have been internally displaced in Haiti as armed groups continue to control or contest large portions of the country.
But officials have not said that the crisis in Haiti was a major factor in Sunday’s voyage, especially since the Coast Guard said most of those aboard were from the Dominican Republic.
For investigators, several major questions remain unanswered.
Authorities are still trying to determine where the vessel began its journey, who organized the trip and exactly what led to the violent confrontation before the boat overturned.
Officials also had not announced whether anyone had been arrested in connection with the reported machete attack.
For rescue crews, the immediate priority remained finding the 10 people still missing.
Coast Guard aircraft and vessels were joined by Puerto Rico Police, Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations and the Dominican Republic Air Force in searching the area.
With survivors reporting 62 people aboard, authorities were working against time to account for everyone.
The ordeal highlights just how quickly an already dangerous maritime crossing can turn catastrophic.
Passengers aboard the vessel faced not only violence and a sinking boat, but hours in open water without life jackets before anyone knew they needed help.
For 49 people, rescuers arrived in time.
For three others, the journey ended in tragedy.
And the search continued for the 10 people who had yet to be found.
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