Bahamas navy intercepts boat carrying 76 Haitian migrants

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – The Bahamas navy says it has intercepted a boat carrying 76 Haitian migrants. It’s the second large group stopped in the past two weeks.

The navy said Sunday the Haitians were aboard a 40-foot (13-meter) boat stopped about 20 miles (12 kilometres) west of the Exuma islands. It says the Haitians were turned over to immigration authorities for eventual repatriation.

The navy recently stopped another boat carrying 87 Haitians.

Hundreds of Haitians each year try to reach the Bahamas in search of work, despite the island chain’s threat to deport unauthorized foreigners. The International Organization for Migration estimated in 2014 that there were nearly 70,000 Haitians in the Bahamas, 50,000 of them without residence permits.