GENEVA, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) lamented on Tuesday the wreckage of ships and the recent death or disappearance of more than 80 Venezuelans in the Caribbean.
IOM spokesperson Joel Millman said at a United Nations briefing here that "More than 80 Venezuelans have died or disappeared in the Caribbean Sea the past two months in three shipwrecks reported by (Colombian TV channel) NTN24 and other media outlets and confirmed by the Venezuelan authorities."
He said the first boat capsized on April 23 and the second on May 16, both heading towards Trinidad and Tobago, and an estimated 51 to 67 Venezuelan refugees and migrants disappeared in these disasters.
The third boat, headed to Curacao, disappeared on June 8, said Millman. At least 21 Venezuelans are still missing, with total losses rising possibly to 32 persons.
The IOM spokesperson said that according to testimonies of survivors and relatives of the missing Venezuelans, these trips were organized by smugglers.
At the same briefing, Babar Baloch, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that "As Venezuelans continue to use dangerous sea routes to leave their country, UNHCR is calling for more coordinated search and rescue efforts to prevent further loss of life."
"UNHCR is also urging governments in the region to adopt a coordinated approach to tackle the exploitation, abuse and violence experienced by people traveling irregularly," he said.
Millman noted that "Migrant smugglers take advantage of the Venezuelans' desperate search for better living conditions to sell these trips in heavily overloaded vessels, unsuitable for passenger transport in open seas."
He cited Marcelo Pisani, IOM regional director for central America, north America and the Caribbean, as saying that "The IOM deeply regrets the deaths and disappearances of so many Venezuelan nationals."
He said that the most recent vessel that sank had set sail clandestinely from the town of Aguide, which is in Venezuela's Falcon state.
The IOM said that more than four million Venezuelan refugees and migrants have left their country since 2015. Over 110,000 of them reside in the Caribbean.
Millman also said that this month saw several tragedies along the U.S.-Mexico border, where at least 23 people have died since May 30, or more than one per day.
"We learned just in the past few days of a six-year-old girl from India dying of dehydration in Arizona after crossing into the United States from Mexico."
