The Haitian Government and Haitian Pastors League anticipate that the 29 Haitians who lost their lives in a tragic boating accident last weekend will be buried by this weekend. 

The death toll has risen to 29 after another two bodies were retrieved from waters in Abaco on Tuesday. 

Officials from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force said one of the bodies was found near the wreckage, the other near the entrance of the harbour. 

Haitian Pastors League President, Dr. Jean Paul Charles, confirmed with this Journal that among the dead was the boat’s captain. 

“We want to get the bodies to Nassau to have the burial [here]. 

“We are working as fast as we can to see if we can bury them over the weekend. 

“We will probably have to [also] do Sunday afternoon. I already got the auditorium on Carmichael Road, Enoch Beckford Auditorium. 

“We just pray that everything will be in, the type of coffin, to see what the morgue will do to see if we can bury them. 

“But we are working very hard right now to see what we can do by Sunday,” Dr. Paul Charles said.   

Dr. Paul Charles  confirmed that 18 survivors of the tragic accident have since been turned over to police and Immigration officials and are being housed on the island. 

According to Dr. Paul Charles, the reported 100 Haitian migrants were on their way to the United States, when their 40-conventional sailing yacht.

“They don’t have a navigation system, nothing. 

“After they left Haiti, the first thing they hit is Bahamian waters. Since the boat could not go further than that, wherever they could  dock, this is what the captain did. And it’s a violation of Bahamian law and US law,” Dr. Paul Charles said.   

A joint search and recovery effort operation is being conducted in the nearby areas as authorities continue investigations into this tragic incident.