Rescuers found 113 survivors stranded on two reefs and recovered two bodies, saidLt. Cmdr. Matt Moorlag, a Coast Guard spokesman in Miami, revising an earlier statement that fourbodies had been found.
"Our main goal right now is just to get everybody out of the water and get medicalattention for those who need it," said Petty Officer Third Class Sabrina Elgammal, a Coast Guardspokeswoman.
The shipwreck happened around 2 p.m. Monday. By late evening, Turks and Caicosauthorities using small boats had rescued about 40 people stranded on a reef 2 miles (3 kilometers)southeast of West Caicos island. Many others were later found on a nearby reef, Moorlag said.
The boat carrying up to 200 Haitians had been at sea for three days when passengerssaw a police vessel and accidentally steered the boat onto a reef as they tried to hide, survivorAlces Julien told The Associated Press at a hospital were some survivors were receivingtreatment.
Elgammal said information from survivors indicates that between 160 and 200 peoplewere on board when the vessel capsized near this island chain north of Haiti and southeast of theBahamas. She said the cause of the accident is under investigation.
A Coast Guard cutter has been searching through the night for survivors, andMoorlag said a helicopter and a jet will join the search at first light. He said a C-130 aircraftwas expected Tuesday morning to help in the search.
Haitians routinely take to the seas in rickety, overcrowded boats in hopes ofescaping poverty in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation.
In May 2007, an overcrowded sloop carrying more than 160 migrants capsized off theTurks and Caicos Islands. Some of the victims were eaten by sharks. The 78 people who survivedaccused a Turks and Caicos patrol boat of ramming their vessel as they approached shore and towingthem into deeper water.
In May, a boat carrying at about 30 mainly Haitian migrants capsized off Florida's coast,killing at least nine people, including a pregnant woman.
