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Ecuadorian migrants' tragedy at the sea


Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images
Diana Heras shows a picture of her husband, Silverio Lalvay, who disappeared in the shipwreck.
Bogota, Colombia / AFP
08/19/05

Colombian and Ecuadorian planes and ships on Thursday scoured the Pacific for more than 100 illegal migrants missing after their small boat capsized, as Ecuador's president vowed a clampdown on gangs that organise human trafficking to the United States.

Admiral Javier Pena, commander of Colombia 's Pacific fleet, said the search would last three days, but that the chances of finding survivors were "slim."
"We are working on it. We have sent planes and ships to the area where we think people could be, in the hope of finding survivors," the admiral told local media.

The small boat, with a capacity of 15 people, was carrying 113 Ecuadorians when it capsized Friday about 220 kilometers (140 miles) from the small Colombian island of Malpelo in the Pacific, according to the Colombian navy.
A fishing boat on Sunday rescued seven men and two women who were found clinging to a crate and buoys in the sea.

With thousands of Ecuadorians trying to reach the United States each year, the country's President Alfredo Palacio vowed to clamp down on the so-called "coyote" gangs that charge people to get them into the United States illegally.

"I offer my greatest sympathies to the families of the dead and missing in the sinking of this boat," Palacio said in a statement. "This is a scourge that plagues the poorest, in particular, and leads to these kinds of disasters, which create great sorrow in the country."

Armando Elizalde, captain of the Ecuadorian port of Manta , said the overloaded boat had set off from the port of Esmeraldas , near the border with Colombia , on August 11, and was headed for Central America .
All of the would-be migrants were from the Ecuadorian Andean region of Azuay and the southern coastal city of Machala , according to El Mercurio de Manta newspaper.

A 25-year-old survivor identified as Julio Sisalema said people had tried to grab parts of the boat and even other victims as the vessel sank, in a bid to stay afloat, according to El Mercurio.

"Suddenly it broke in two," Sisalema was quoted as saying. "The boat broke, and we all fell into the water and some tried to float by supporting themselves on other people's heads," he said.
"We paid 10,000 dollars to go the United States ," Angel Lalvay, 17, said on Colombia 's Caracol radio.

"I remember that the boat pitched to one side and those who were on the roof fell into the water, but the majority of the people were shut up in the hold and could not get out," Lalvay said.
Sisalema said there had initially been at least 12 survivors, but three young women drowned, leaving just nine people struggling in the ocean.

Ecuadorians and other South Americans pay "coyotes" thousands of dollars to smuggle them to the United States . The journey often involves risky trips in small, barely seaworthy boats, followed by harrowing overland treks.
On August 10, the US Coast Guard intercepted a boat carrying 69 Ecuadorians, including children, and two Peruvians. The boat was turned back to Guatemala , and the migrants were repatriated from there.

One of the passengers, 34-year-old Maria Padilla, told AFP that she had left Ecuador "with a dream of making it to the United States and later sending for my children."
"This is an adventure I don't recommend to anyone," said Ines Batista, 43, another would-be migrant, who was prepared to leave children and grandchildren behind in Ecuador.

In May, a Costa Rican vessel rescued 88 migrants from Ecuador and Peru stranded at sea in a boat leaking fuel and taking on water, after one of them threw a message in a bottle into the sea.
In August 2004, the US Navy stopped 102 Ecuadorians in a fishing boat. In November 2003, it rescued 107 migrants adrift in the Pacific off Costa Rica .