At least five migrants died Thursday when they were abandoned in waters near Mona Island, west of Puerto Rico, aboard the boat taking them to the United States, the Coast Guard told Effie.

A spokesman for the US Coast Guard in Puerto Rico, Ricardo Castrodad, said that 66 other people, 41 men and 25 womenwho were traveling in the same boat, managed to save themselves and reach the island.

Leave them before they reach the shore and The boat has left the scenesaid Castrodad, who explained that the migrants were abandoned on the beach of Punta Arenas.

The official pointed out that officials from Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources in Mina Island They informed the federal authorities at 08:36 (12:36 GMT) about the landing and that they had recovered the five bodies.

Following the alert, Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) elements in Cabo Rojo (southwest) and Aguadilla (northwest) activated helicopters and boats to participate in the rescue operation.

The nationality of the deceased and survivors is currently unknown.

“We can assume that they are Haitians, but also Dominicans,” a spokesman for Puerto Rican Customs and Border Protection, Jeffrey Quiñones, told Efe.

The so-called Mna Channel separates the Dominican Republic from Puerto Rico and is a common migration route for Dominicans and Haitians attempting to enter US territory illegally.

In that area, north of Puerto Rican island of Desicio, a boat capsized on May 12, killing 11 Haitian women.

Coastguard They managed to save 38 people aliveHowever, search and rescue efforts failed to find at least ten other migrants estimated to be traveling on this boat.