At least 40 people were pulled from open waters by the U.S. Coast Guard after a boat capsized several miles from Mona Island, a small uninhabited island west of Puerto Rico. Two people died following a fight aboard the vessel that involved a machete, officials said Monday.
Survivors estimated that roughly 60 people had been traveling on the boat, according to the Coast Guard.
The makeshift vessel overturned late Sunday after a violent confrontation left several people seriously wounded by a machete. Those aboard were forced into the water, many without life jackets, the Coast Guard said.
The survivors endured more than 12 hours in the water before a person aboard a passing boat spotted them near Mona Island at about noon Monday.
People sitting on and gathered in the water besides a capsized vessel off Mona Island, Puerto Rico, on September 28, 2026. (U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Juan/Handout via REUTERS)
The passerby alerted authorities and helped bring four people to safety immediately, officials said.
Search-and-rescue operations continued into Monday evening.
The Coast Guard said it had not yet determined the nationalities or places of origin of those aboard the capsized boat.
People escaping poverty and violence have for years crossed the Mona Passage from Hispaniola—the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic—to Puerto Rico and neighboring islands.
The U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies responding to the capsized vessel off Mona Island, Puerto Rico, on September 28, 2026. (U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Juan/Handout via REUTERS)
Many make the journey in improvised boats that are poorly equipped to withstand the passage’s dangerous waters.
Monday’s disaster was the latest in a series of deadly migrant voyages in the region.
In June 2022, 11 Haitian women and girls were buried in Puerto Rico after an overcrowded boat carrying them overturned in open waters northwest of the U.S. territory.
Survivors said there was an estimated 60 people aboard. (iStock)
Police in the Turks and Caicos Islands detained a makeshift boat carrying 60 Haitian migrants last week.
Authorities in the Turks and Caicos Islands also detained 240 Haitian migrants near the territory in June.
Gang violence has driven a record 1.5 million people from their homes across Haiti. U.N. data indicates that more than 3,000 people were killed there between January and June.
Armed groups control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince, along with parts of Haiti’s central region and other areas of the country.
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